Posted by James McNeil on June 26, 2002 at 03:48:29:
In Reply to: Copywright vs. Punishment posted by Matt G on June 24, 2002 at 13:47:22:
Whenever this topic comes up, I get a little queasy. First of all, when band directors (at least mine) copy music (he/she does with every piece we get) its not to cheat the publishing companies out of their money (the actual composers get almost no $ per copy) but so we can write on the pages. We have more than enough originals to go around, even though we have enough originals to go around, we still make copies because it's so inconvenient to have to write notes on a part, only to have to erase it a few months later. Even when the parts are erased, the notes are still imprinted on the paper, and pencil led still exists on the music in the form of a big black smudge: making the comprehension of further markings almost impossible. We don't make copies to cut corners, but to protect our investment. Another point is that while it is illegal to make copies of parts, its not like the "copy police" are going to hunt you down, and publicly tar and feather you. As long as you don't grossly neglect the law (borrowing parts from other sources and copying them) you should be fine. Its like the speed limit, if you go five over, your fine. Making copies of purchased parts: it's just much more convenient, and more simple to make copies. Sure its illegal, but music isn't about raking the cash out of poorly funded band programs, its about making music, and the ability to do so shouldn't be hampered by the legal machine. While I agree that people should be reimbursed for their hard earned work, "ilegal" copies do not always snatch the money from the hands of the artist and publisher. In our case, if we used the original parts, we would have enough for everybody, but originals decay faster when you have kids writing all over them. If publishers want to nag so much about the copywright laws, maybe they should print more parts per order, and charge a little more, it would make the use of original copies much more popular. Sorry if I ranted, just giving my $.02