Originally Posted By: Mac
Originally Posted By: av84fun

Most publishers overlook such copyright violations only because there are so many of them, they can't possibly take actions against the violators. However, they can and DO take X number of actions every year to "make examples" out of the violators.


How it really works:



--Mac


How it really, really works. (-:

Having been a major music publisher for almost 20 years, not only do I know how it works but filed an infringement action against Mattel that settled uner a Confidentiality Agreement but the damages award would have purchased a couple nice houses...ON MALIBU BEACH! (Too bad that there were WAY too many co-plaintiffs in that action to qualify ME to buy any such houses!!!!!) (-:


In fact, one of the reasons that infringement is so rampant is that the copyright owners...even the Majors...spend VERY little time chasing infringers and stumble across them mostly by accident.

Some have even taken the position that the appearance of copyrighted music on YouTube...sometimes entire albums...is "marketing" in the hope that folks will like what they hear and either become a fan (The Eagles...Beatles etc. get BRAND NEW FANS every single day)or will go buy higher quality versions of the music.

Just spend 5 minutes on YouTube or Google "Songtitle" lyrics and you'll see what I mean.

But you're right Mac..."it ain't worth it."

For example, recently 30 year old woman was ordered to pay $222,000 to record companies for sharing music online. She was ordered to pay $9,250 in copyright infringement damages for each of 24 songs – a meager penalty compared to the maximum statutory damages award of $150,000 per infringement.

Back to the OP's plan...making quite a number of "finished product" examples of such a songbook would be a blatant violation of copyright. And since there would be a "commercial purpose" is making such copies, the potential damage award could be much larger than if no commercial purpose could be established.

And I cannot imagine any publisher taking on such a project based on being presented even with a "finished product" promotional package. If the publisher happens to like the idea, they don't need the OP's work and could just go do it themselves.

Finally, attempting to clear the copyrights on such songs...given their age and the significant changes that have occurred in copyright laws in the late 1970s would make such an effort truly a nightmare. And since print royalties represent a very small fraction of total royalty income streams...it is hard to imagine how such a project could be a profitmaking enterprise.

Having said all this, I must add that I truly admire the OP's passion for sheet music.

Regards,

Jim