Is there any easy way to determine whether or not a work (in this case a piece of music) is in the public domain?
I want to do something based on a performance (a new performance to be arranged by me - so it’s the publication of the manuscript that matters, I guess) of Fanfare For The Common Man - it was composed in 1942 or 1943. The law is defined as such a web of statements, counterexamples and exceptions, I can’t actually work out what it means.
You’re in “no man’s land,” public domain wise. But for something as successful as *
Fanfare for the Common Man*, I would think that Copeland renewed the copyright, so it’s not PD.
It is in copyright. One way to find out is via the Harry Fox Agency’s Songfile website . HFA administers “Mechanical” copyrights - the fee you pay to record a new version of a piece of music.
A search for “Fanfare for the Common Man” by “Aaron Copeland” gave the following information:
HFA Song Code: F0954A
Publisher: BOOSEY & HAWKES INC
Represented By HFA
A public performance (no recording) requires a negotiated fee. Boosey and Hawkes actually has a flow chart to determine how to proceed. Good luck!