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Fair Use and Music
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In 1975, Guidelines
for Educational Use of Music were developed by a group of music educators
and publishers to clarify the intent of the copyright law with respect to
music and to amplify the concept of fair use. These guidelines were
submitted to Congress and became part of the legislative history of the 1976
Copyright Act.
Reproduction of copyrighted material
1. Copying Which Is Permitted:
a. Emergency copying to
replace purchased copies which for any reason are
not available for an imminent performance, provided purchased replacement
copies shall be substituted in due course.
b. Multiple copies of excerpts of works may be made for academic purposes
other than performance provided that such excerpts do not comprise a performable
unit, provided that such copying does not exceed 10% of the work and no more
than one copy per student is made.
c. Printed copies which have been purchased may be edited or simplified provided that the fundamental character of the work is not distorted or the lyrics altered or lyrics added.
d. A single copy of recordings
of performances by students may be made for evaluation or rehearsal purposes
and may be retained by the educational
institution or instructor.
e. A single copy of a
sound recording (such as a tape, disc, or cassette)
of copyrighted music may be made from sound recordings owned by an
educational institution or instructor for the purpose of constructing aural
exercises or examinations and may be retained by the educational institution
or instructor. This pertains only to the copyrights of the music itself and
not to any copyright which may exist in the sound recording.
Copying For Which Permission is Required:
a. Copying to create or
replace or substitute for anthologies, compilations, or collective works.
b. Copying of or from works intended to be "consumable" in the course
of study or teaching such as workbooks, exercises, standardized tests,
answer sheets, and like material.
c. Copying for the purpose
of performance, except as noted in
"permissible uses" above.
d. Copying for the purpose
of substituting for the purchase of music
except as noted in "permissible uses" above.
e. Copying without inclusion
of the copyright notice which appears
on the printed copy.
Recording
The copyright owner has the exclusive right to reproduce copyrighted works
in phono records. Limited exceptions to this right are set forth in the guidelines
as outlined above. Once phono records of a non-dramatic musical work have
been distributed to the public in the U.S. under authority of the copyright
owner, any other person may obtain a compulsory license to record the work
by complying with certain procedures and by payment of the royalty as provided
in 17 U.S.C. §115. This compulsory license requirement applies when a
music educator wishes to record a student performance as part of the learning
process and distribute copies of the recording within the community. Bear
in mind that the first recording of a work and its distribution in recorded
form requires the consent of the copyright owner.
Preparation of derivitave works
The copyright owner has the exclusive right to make arrangements of a piece of music. However, the guidelines describing what is considered to be fair use of music material set forth the following exceptions:
1. Printed copies which
have been purchased may be edited or simplified, provided that the fundamental
character of the work is not distorted or the lyrics altered or lyrics added;
2. The compulsory license for recording includes the privilege of making a
musical arrangement of a work to the extent necessary to conform it to the
style or manner of interpretation of the performance involved, but the arrangement
shall not change the basic melody or fundamental character of the work. This
privilege is not meant to extend to "serious" compositions.
1. Performance of any copyrighted work by instructors or students in the course of face-to-face teaching activities, in a non-profit educational institution, in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction.
2. Performance of non-dramatic literary or musical work on closed circuit television to other classrooms or to disabled students for teaching purposes only if the transmission is part of the systematic instructional activities of a non-profit educational institution, and only if the performance is directly related and of material assistance to the teaching content of the program.3. Performance of a non-dramatic literary or musical work at a school concert if there is no purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage, no fee or compensation paid to the performers, promoter or organizers, and no admission charge; if there is an admission charge, all of the proceeds must be used only for educational or charitable purposes; and the performance may not take place if the copyright owner objects in writing seven days before the performance.
4. Performance of non-dramatic literary or musical works or of dramatic-musical works of a religious nature, in the course of services at places of worship or at a religious assembly.
