On Mon, May 23, 2005 at 10:55:35AM -0400, Alex Wilson wrote:
On 5/23/05 7:45 AM, "Dave Doty" <davedoty@hotmail.com> wrote:
From: Tony Baechler <tb@baechler.net>
The other is the actual MIDI performances. Almost all performers copyright their MIDI files, using the argument that they are an original performance of a classical work.
I'm not sure how MIDI works. If you give two MIDI composers the exact same sheet music, would there be differences in the files they generated? In other words, does they basically just enter the sheet music and a music file comes out, or is there a task of arrangement that produces a unique file no one else could create exactly on their own?
Most musicians I know who create midi (all for their own projects) use a midi keyboard to capture a performance (which, in my view, is an interpretation) of a given work. I don't think I know anyone who creates MIDI files from public domain sheet music for online distribution, so I don't know if my musician friends are exceptions and not the rule.
Alex.
There are some different situations. PG has only a few MIDI files, but most were generated automatically by something like Finale from digitized sheet music. Our view (which is not a settled matter, but our contributors have agreed with) is that such files are public domain. Our Beethoven's 5th, to the contrary, is listed as copyrighted because it came from a performance as Alex described. This stuff is a little vague, and there just isn't enough legal precedent to back it up. So, we go with our usual "sweat of the brow != copyright" for digitizing musical scores, but go with "performance == copyright" for when those scores are "performed." Digital transformations of various types are therefore not copyrighted. But, again, we try to make this clear to contributors, so that we're not labeling something as public domain when they wish to hold a copyright. Case-by-case... -- Greg