Hi, Keith -

I suspect the problem with songs like Appalachian folk songs is that they were never written down in the first place. So it's a simple matter claim ownership of such a song with no one to dispute it. However, I think it would be much more difficult to do that for a piece that was actually previously published and for which records (paperwork trail, not 33 1/3 disks) exist.

Obviously, you can't record the same arrangement as someone else (on a public domain song) and claim ownership of it; however, melody and lyrics allow you to use them as you wish.

Sometimes you find errors in music scores, because they were intentionally placed there to prevent someone from taking your transcription of a public domain song and copying it to claim as your own new version. The errors give it away to show that yours was not a derivitive work of the original, but a copy of a new derivative.

I still maintain that songs (and other works of artistic expression) should enter the public domain much sooner than they do. Not for my benefit, but for the benefit of all.

John

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