musical performances and copyright infringement

Buddhist ethical conduct including the Five Precepts (Pañcasikkhāpada), and Eightfold Ethical Conduct (Aṭṭhasīla).
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Rag
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musical performances and copyright infringement

Post by Rag »

The morality of illegal downloading has already been discussed much. I would like to examine here something related, but significantly different: the morality of publicly performing music that one does not hold the copyright to or have a performance license for.

One example would be a busker (street musician) playing a rendition of a popular tune.

Another example would be a store that plays music while people are shopping.

Both cases are technically in violation of copyright law (as far as I know). But does it amount to stealing? To me, cases like these seem less egregious than the case of someone illegally downloading software. The performing musician might have their own creative take on the song they play, making it quite distinct from the original song. Nevertheless, what they create would still constitute a "derivative work" and therefore be in violation of the law. Still, It seems unlikely that a copyright holder would be interested in taking legal action against a busker performing one of their songs. I am not aware of such a case taking place ever, in fact.

This is a significant moral question considering it has a bearing on small business owners who provide music to the public and to musicians who might perform music. As a musician, I feel unsure about performing other peoples' music for audiences in exchange for money because I worry that I might be stealing.

Then again, perhaps the act of inspiring passion in people through music outweighs whatever bad vipaka comes from violating copyright laws.

Thoughtful replies are much appreciated.
SarathW
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Re: musical performances and copyright infringement

Post by SarathW »

One example would be a busker (street musician) playing a rendition of a popular tune.
Generally, a busker has to take the permit from the council so the council covers the music license I believe.
But I believe busking without council approval you are breaking the law of the council.

The best person to answer this question is Paul because he is a musician.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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confusedlayman
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Re: musical performances and copyright infringement

Post by confusedlayman »

SarathW wrote: Sun Jun 13, 2021 7:00 am
One example would be a busker (street musician) playing a rendition of a popular tune.
Generally, a busker has to take the permit from the council so the council covers the music license I believe.
But I believe busking without council approval you are breaking the law of the council.

The best person to answer this question is Paul because he is a musician.
to be honest, if we take even this small things in to consideration then lay life should be renounced immediately...
I may be slow learner but im at least learning...
Rag
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Re: musical performances and copyright infringement

Post by Rag »

Generally, yes, one must get permission from the city to busk. In my city, the fee is quite negligible. However, unless the city pays a blanket fee to the performance rights organizations (such as ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC) in exchange for the right to perform copyrighted works in public, then in theory any public performance of copyrighted material is still in violation.

In the same way, one might need a special license from the city to host live music at their venue, but that license does not make the venue exempt from complaints/legal threats from the performance rights organizations if, say, a band plays a show there and is playing covers of copyrighted songs.

Here's a story about ASCAP going after Girl Scouts for publicly performing copyrighted songs:

https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/17/nyre ... ts-it.html
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confusedlayman
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Re: musical performances and copyright infringement

Post by confusedlayman »

it seems even Donald trump used songs in election campaigns that were not licensed properly or fully by his team
I may be slow learner but im at least learning...
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