As Stu said above, not only commercial release, but also publishing (publicly disseminating) is protected. My old example is this: what if I decided to copy by hand the latest John Grisham novel and then give copies of it to my friends. It's not a commercial release, but I've violated Mr. Grisham's copyright...he or his agents or assignees are the only folks who have the right to copy (copy...right) his work. It's similar with music.

You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way. -Johnny Cash

It's only music.
-niteshift

Mike Dunbar Music