Re: [ARSCLIST] Copyright of treasures

["Steven C. Barr" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Karl Miller" <lyaa071@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> On Wed, 5 Oct 2005, Russ Hamm wrote:
>
> > >The following is a partial list of the performers represented in the
San
> > >Diego Folk Festival tapes.
> > >
> > >Alice Gerrard
> > >Benny Thomasson
> > >Big Joe Williams
>
> etc.
>
> What an amazing list! and, what a potential legal problem it would be to
> issue those...and how sad it is that copies may never be offered for
> sale to the public.
>

This is, sadly, a dilemma which is:
1) mainly applicable to those who strive to collect all the different
versions of musical entities on the basis that they differ, and...

2) a phenomenon which has arisen as musical performance has become
more improvisational!

Although there are subtle differences in musical performances
that are played from "written" scores (i.e. most classical
performances, as well as dance bands playing from music)
It is only in more recent decades that the majority of
musicians "made it up as they went," meaning that any
recorded performance can be musically specific.

It's like the difference in identifying alternate takes
of a dance band playing from a "stock" and, say, Duke
Ellington...

...stevenc
http://users.interlinks.net/stevenc/