Classical music and copyright

Factual Questions
1

I’m a small-time filmmaker, and I want to use classical music in a film I’m working on. Of course, I can’t use copyrighted material unless I pay for it, and the Prime Directive of indie filmmaking is “Don’t pay a professional to do it if you can get a friend to do it for beer.” So I’m curious; what if I have a musician friend who can perform and record the classical piece for me, and I use that? Do I have to worry about the composer’s copyright? Or the company that puts out his CDs? Or the company that prints the sheet music? And if the latter, what if my friend can just listen to a recording and figure out how to play it without resort to sheet music?

Specifically, I want to use Erik Satie’s “Gnosssienne #1”; Satie lived until 1925, so we’re not really dealing with something ancient here, either.

Any input is appreciated; I’ve just started shooting on this project, so time is not of the essence, but music is a make-or-break issue with movies, so I want to know where I stand.

2

The recent Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act extended the term of copyrighted works to life + 70 years. If your date for the death of Satie is correct then the copyright on his composition expired in 1995 and you are free to make your own performance recording of it without paying any royalties to him or his assignees.

The other recordings of the music are covered by what are known as ‘performance rights’. That right pertains to the music being played by a specific orchestra on a specific date. It’s specific to the individual performances, and in no way restricts other performances. You are totally free to have your own performance independent of these with your own musicians etc. without infringing their copyright in any way at all.

The company that prints the sheet music has their copyright in just the sheet music itself. As long as you don’t substantially reproduce the actual physical sheet in any form, there is nothing barring you from actually performing the piece. Playing the piece does not count as your altering the medium of expression (from paper to music).

I have to put in the usual caveats, that IANAL in your jurisdiction, and furthermore that my experience with copyright law is actually with English law, but the Berne Convention, the UCC and TRIPS mean that IP law between the UK and the USA is very very identical as all the party states to those conventions are largely required to provide the same rights to their nationals and to reciprocate in terms of both conditions and protection.

3

This clause only applies to works made since the law went into effect.

However, all works before 1923 are in the public domain. You would only have to worry about anything Satie wrote in the last two years of his life.

4

Here are a few good resources on copyright duration:

http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/ObjectID/612A23E4-4728-4B08-85B3072753D47721/catID/2EB060FE-5A4B-4D81-883B0E540CC4CB1E/310/276/136/FAQ/

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ15a.html

5

The US Copyright Office has all theinfo you could ever want on how long copyrights last.

Sources on the internet tell me that Satie’s Gnossienne #1 was composed in 1890. Presuming that a US copyright for the work was registered that same year (check with a lawyer if you’re really worried about this), then copyright protection would have lasted initially until 1918, and if Satie renewed here, until 1946. The US Copyright Office declares that everything created before 1923 is out of copyright in this country.

So it looks like you’re in the clear to record it and use that recording as you wish.

6

Great information here, folks; many thanks. I love this message board.

I don’t realistically envision a lawsuit arising anyway, as my movies aren’t seen by more than a few people (although coincidentally, my first movie to hit the big screen is playing in a local festival tonight). Still, one never knows when lightning may strike.