JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Mentor Questions Forum License to write & sell arrangements of copyrighted songs?

I am working on a website for a friend to sell his arrangements. We're starting with just those that are his own compositions, but we'd like to add some standards. I'm having a hard time finding information on licensing for purposes of publishing new arrangements. I already know about Mechanical, Synch, Transcription & Performance rights. And I know that I need permission from the copyright holder to create a derivative work. Can anyone help me learn about licensing songs for the purpose of writing new arrangements and selling them?

Thanks!
-Wendy (first time poster)

Hi Wendy,

Welcome to JPF.

I'm not a lawyer, but this is my guess.

You'll be publishing the song, which is copyrighted, even though it's your friend's arrangement. So, you'll need to pay the rate for your mechanical reproduction. Then, above that, your friend will have a copyright for his arrangement.

Here's a link to the Harry Fox Agency, which may help:
http://www.harryfox.com/public/index.jsp

Again, I'm not a lawyer, but my guess is that you just treat it as you would if you were simply copying the song, then add the arrangement copyright on top.

All the Best,
Mike

Hi Wendy,
Assuming the Standards you wish to write new arrangments for are still under copyright you would need to contact the copyright owner, most likely a publisher for any permissions.

If you are just recording songs that have already been released to the public for sale and not making wholesale changes to the song you will just need a mechanical license from the copyright owner, again most likely a Publisher.

Harry Fox Agency may or may not represent the publisher and can issue the mechanical license. Otherwise the publisher can issue the license. You just need to find out who to contact.

I'm afraid you both misunderstood. I am not planning to record his arrangements - I've already done that in the past. I have an account with Harry Fox and know all about Mechanical Licenses.

This is different. He is going to be selling his sheet music of his arrangements (mostly big band, with a line geared towards high school music programs.) Sometimes of his own compositions (which is so nice and simple) but would like to also offer some jazz standards. I am not selling his stuff - he is - I am just acting as a technical person.

Thank you,
Wendy

OK, Wendy, sorry I misunderstood. I thought you wanted information on licensing.

Ok,
If you, (He), wants to write new arrangments of Old Standards you will still have to contact the copyright owner, assuming the songs are not in Public Domain to receive permission. To research the songs you probably can Google the titles to see if there is still a publisher. The arrangments should be already written to present to a copyright owner in case there is still one.

If you only want to sell arrangments that already exist, (Sheet Music) from a publisher you can probably get those from a Sheet Music Publisher thru the Copyright Owner.

I would first see if the songs are still under copyright by Googling them and go from there.

Right. There is very little that is in the public domain (jazz standard-wise) since copyright lasts something like 70 years after the death of the writer. I can actually get the copyright and publisher info quite easily using my Harry Fox account (although they can't help with this type of license.)

He isn't interested in selling other peoples arrangements...just his own. (He's written for Wynton Marsalis, Ron Carter, Harry Belafonte to name just a few. Wynton's Grammy-winning "Hot House Flowers" were all his arrangements. And he shared a Grammy with Quincy Jones for his work on THE WIZ.) These things were all written for specific artists and for recordings, so this new venture is taking him into a realm he & I have never dealt with.

-- Another friend of mine has written a new broadway musical. The story is based on a novel. He licenses the rights from the author with an annual payment - paid whether the show gets produced or not.

-- For mechanical licensing there are statutory rates.

What is standard practice for licensing a song for purposes other than recording it? Is it a one-time fee? Annual fee? Percentage of sales?

Thank you for your thoughts!
-Wendy

Wendy, you are referring to what's called a "print license" or a "print rights license" for sheet music. I believe you or your friend will have to negotiate with the individual publishers to obtain such a license. I'm not a lawyer, but I would imagine that there are agreements between the music publisher and a sheet music company such as Hal Leonard, which would make it a headache for a "one-stop" organization such as Harry Fox to deal with print licensing.

Again, you or your friend would be licensing the print right from the publisher of the song and would need to affix the copyright information to the publication, along with that, your friend's copyright information for the arrangement would be affixed.

This would probably be a fee similar to the music recording licensing fee where you pay up front for x number of copies, though it's likely that different publishers will negotiate different deals. There are, to my knowledge, no statutory rates for print licensing.

Harry Fox recommends that for print licensing, you contact the publishers. They say you can find the publisher through the PRO's or the Copyright Office. Here is the Harry Fox link to the PRO's and the Copyright Office:
http://www.harryfox.com/songfile/faq.html#faq7

Hope that helps.

Mike

Thank you so much, Mike. You've been very kind!
-Wendy