Hi Folks,

I'm a little uncertain as to whether Public Domain, Trad Arr, Cover Songs where the Copyright has expired are OK in this forum.

Could someone please clarify this for me?

Thanks & Best Regards
Nigel

You must own all rights to the song to post per PG Music rules.

Per US law if the song is truly in the public domain then you may create an original interpretation of it and own ALL rights to your version - the same as if you wrote it. You may not use another artist’s version. The US has very strict copyright laws. Each year per recent law songs enter into the PD that are 75 years old. A Google search will list the songs that enter each year. If they were recorded and/or formally published less than 75 years ago they are not in the US PD. Per the above we have had several PD songs licensed and we receive all revenue from them. Note that there is a lot of bad info on the net about this and you have to dig a bit deep to ferret out the actual protocols.
Hope this is of some help.


Bud

Many people think if they pay a fee to the royalty brokers that they "own the rights". That is incorrect, but the powers that be here have disregarded their own rules for my entire 10 years here, allowing covers, a lot of religion stuff (get me started in THAT topic!), and seemingly really just not caring about their own rule.

I see it as a matter of some people have the talent to write and some don't. Or don't try. That's why I rarely listen to songs here. A lot of people slap together works of 100% computer music, some trite and banal lyrics, then (usually the same handful of people) keep bumping their post with stupid and transparent stuff like "New mix" or "New Title" or "New version" to keep their view numbers up to win a free copy of the new version at the end of the year.

I can afford to buy the stuff and don't need to cheat like that.

Ouch Eddie,
That's a harsh slap down.
I agree that the forum rules aren't enforced and, as a result, sometimes not adhered to. That's often the case within a forum so is nothing special with this one.
I'm pretty certain there'd be no rush to volunteer if PG asked for folk to step up and administer the thing...it is a thankless task.
By rarely listening to songs in this forum you've missed a lot of excellent stuff. I sued to try to listen to everyone & comment on everything but now I have a fair idea of those who collect clicks, those who don't contribute to the "community" and those who don't care for feedback so focus on the positive people and posts.

Ray, my perspective is this. I don't write for anybody but me. My songs are stories about my life. I don't seek to collect empty praise from people of varying levels of knowledge just for an ego stroke. At my age my ego has been stroked enough. There are maybe a dozen people here (possibly more and I just don't know them) whose skill and knowledge level is sufficient that I would care at all about their opinion. The rest? Whatever.

I had a friend here where I live who sadly passed away a few years ago. Very good sax player. He would go around from bar to bar almost begging bands to let him sit in and then he would walk around to everybody in the room asking "How'd I sound? How'd I sound?" knowing that not ONE person was going to say "You sucked". A man in his 70s should NOT need to beg for approval from strangers unless he is deeply insecure about his talents. I mean, even if I post something and everybody hates it I'm not going to change it. So why bother posting if I don't care about the feedback? Maybe in my 20s I sought out approval, but there comes a point where it hits you that "Hey. YOU don't even play or know jack about music. Why do I care what YOU think?"

And that's just my honest perspective.

As far as cover/copy stuff, I'll just say that when clubs are open I only go hear acts that are 100% original. I will walk out at the first sound of a cover song. We have debated this to death and my opinion has not changed, nor will it. You can be the greatest copy guitar player ever but I want to hear what YOU have to say, not what HE had to say restated. Note for note cover music is of no interest to me. Tell me YOUR story.

I think Janice & Bud provided the best insight.

Eddie is quite opinionated and I appreciate some of what he's saying.
I'm also in the camp of preferring to hear and create original songs.

The flip side to that is, quite often there's a nostalgic connection to previously released songs that can make us feel good so, I enjoy hearing a good cover.

I can't imagine having such an absolute attitude about what music I listen to.
Music is art and you just never know what you'll find inspirational so, I keep an open mind and ear to everything.