copyright/royalties issues

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I do a fair amount of recording which tends to lean towards the "classical" side of genres.
In the past I've gotten by with selling some music that my family puts together because it is essentially all public domain "folk" songs.

However, I'm looking at future jobs where I'll be recording classical artists who will be recording lots of things (from bach to shoenberg probably ;-) and I'm wondering about copyright/royalties issues.
Is there a way to just get an agreement w/ ASCAP or do I have to go individually, and how much does it cost? I'm working on a really small budget/scale here so I can't afford a lot.

Thanks!
 
You are completely safe recording Bach, etc. because they have been dead for over 75 years. A general rule of thumb according to the current Copyright Act is that a work is copyrighted for the life of the author plus 75 years. Thus, the works of the classical and baroque composers are in the public domain.

Which is not to say that you can freely copy classical CDs because there are performance rights of the performers that protect their performance.
 
so if I was to record an artist playing classical pieces (as long as they are not contemporary classical) there are no royalties?

I thought there were royalties that went to the family or something.
 
Schoenberg

You may have a problem with Schoenberg, as I believe he died in the 50's and his kids are probably still collecting royalties. His publisher was Universal Edition in Vienna for most of his work. The later stuff, when he lived in LA, was published in the US (Schirmer, I believe, so you might want to check with them in NY.) .Hope that helps. Gelon
 
Right. If they died in the past 50 years, the material is still possibly copyrighted.

Be sure to get a realease from the performers because they will have performance rights for their work.
 
"Be sure to get a realease from the performers because they will have performance rights for their work."

-Good idea, thanks

If the material is such that it has been written in the last 50 years and is possibly copyrighted, where do I go to find out how/where to pay royalties?

Thanks
 
You might have to contact the publishers directly. Or check with ASCAP.
 
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