I want to use certain music recordings from various official bands of
the US military (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines) as background
music for a DVD that will be published, and therefore ?commercial?
product (though it is an educational DVD) . The music/lyrics are
out-of ?copyright patriotic tunes, like Yankee Doodle, the Marine
Corp Hymn, Battle Hymn of the Republic, etc.
Here is what I already know:
1. US Military recordings of music with copyright are not public domain.
2. US Military recordings of public domain music with original
arrangements under copyright are not public domain.
3. US Military recordings of public domain performances with public
domain music with public domain arrangements, but recorded and
distributed/published by a non- governmental or commercial enterprise
(like Sony or EMI) are not public domain.
Here is my conjecture:
4. US Military recordings of public domain performances with public
domain music (score and lyrics) with public domain arrangements, but
recorded and distributed/published by a branch of the US military are
public Domain (or at least free of copyright for US citizens). I
assume the band and conductor are all employees of the US military and
the military recorded and distributes the music.
Here is my second conjecture:
5. US Military recordings of public domain performances with public
domain music but arrangements by active service personnel under the
employment of the US military (i.e. they were employed by the US
military and did the arrangement for them), but recorded and
distributed/published by a branch of the US military are public Domain
(or at least free of copyright for US citizens). The same holds for
vocal (i.e. choir recordings, as opposed to an individual) recordings
if the choir is a US Military choir whose members are employed by the
service.
Here are my questions:
Question #1, is conjecture #4 true?
Question #2, is conjecture #5 true?
For example, is this recording (MP3) in the public domain (conjecture #4)
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cocoon/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.100010386/default.html
Is the recording of this public domain song in the public domain
(conjecture #5), even though it is an original arrangement by a US
serviceperson?:
Amazing Grace on the following Air Force CD.
http://www.usafband.com/recording.cfm?start=37
(note the back jacket on the CD, produced by the Air Force, states
that the ?CD?, as opposed to an individual song, is approved for
public service broadcasting, recruiting, educational activities, troop
morale and retention; and ? is to be used within the scope of these
Department of Air Force activities). I am interested in using only
the songs that are public domain, but arranged by a US military
employee. (again, for a documentary film)
Lastly, I realize that most ?original? things produced by the US
Government are in the public domain (at least to US citizens) (like
photos from NASA and official documents), but I want of the precise
limits on this for musical recordings for ?out-of copyright music?.
Please provide a few links that I can use to support your answer.
I have checked with the military services in question and they
"waffle" on conjecture #4 and #5, so I need an expert answer for those
two cases, as the people I spoke to seemed to say "yes" they are
public domain, but are not completely sure.
Many thanks. |
Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
16 Mar 2005 18:45 PST
locksaluck1-ga,
It's awfully hard to address your conjectures, because most (all??)
researchers here would be reluctant to offer what amounts to a legal
opinion.
However, an alternative approach might be to identify military music
that already is, clearly, in the public domain. I know of one site
that offers up about 25 sound files (mostly music, but a few other
things, like ship's whistle, and the like) that are all in the public
domain.
Would this be of interest as an answer to your question?
Let me know.
pafalafa-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
locksaluck1-ga
on
17 Mar 2005 10:07 PST
Hi,
Thanks for the thoughtful comments. With respect to pafalafa-ga, I do
not need links or public domain music sources, military or otherwise
(I have plenty of these already); in fact some military music clearly
states "public domain". I am more interested in links to "definitive"
or "official" statements that address conjecture #4 and #5 , e.g. with
respect to music performed by people employed by the military. So, I
can then myself qualify the status of the piece (i.e. the military may
say it is public domain, but this may not be true; or, the government
source may not say anything, i.e. a copyright notice may be missing),
and I will be able make an intelligent request for re-use based on
some logic that has been written by someone (i.e. like a government
source). I am really not interested in a legal opinion, but rather
texts/links to government documents that spell out the rules for
musical productions by the US military. I will probably give these
links to a lawyer and then get a legal "opinion". There are general
sites about music copyrights, and sites about public domain from
government sources, but I cannot find anything that specifically
addresses US military music intellectual property issues (i.e. what if
the arrangement or transcription of a public domain piece is done by a
US serviceperson in, say, 1995 working for the Navy Band, does that
person still hold copyright? etc. = as per my original question).
I hope this clarifies.
locksaluck1-ga
|
