November 2006 (PDF) - Antigravity Magazine

MPFREECOMPILED ANDSPONSORED BY:SOUND ADVICEENTERTAINMENT AND MEDIA LEGAL TIPSBY ANDREW BIZER, ESQScared to download music from Kazaa or other services thatcould get you sued by big business? No worries here. These are100% free mp3s from artists who know how to promote theirmusic--by letting people hear some of it for free. So check theseout and buy the album or see their show if you enjoy hearing it.Christopher Willits - “Yellow Spring”Indie pop from Surf Boundaries (Ghostly)Beach House - “Apple Orchard”Music for boredom from Beach House (Carpark)Jamie Lidell - “Multiply”Blue-eyed soul from Multiply (Warp)Ratty Scurvics Singularity - “One BrightMoment”Local experimental rock from Tests (Self-released)Otiose Octopi - “A Very Special Ifshmas(Featuring Ifsh)”Experimental blips and beats (Web Exclusive)The Eyelash Carpets - “Demystified”Noisy electronics from Happiness Once Again(Anexia)Yellow Swans - “I Woke Up (excerpt)”Electronic noise from Psychic Secession, (Load)Visit TWX for these free songs and others not listed here.TWX does not profit from the information provided onthe blog or from the mpFree column. ANTIGRAVITY is notresponsible for the content on The Witness Exchange. Pleasecontact the site author if you are one of these artists and wishto have any links or files removed and your request will behonored immediately.Are you an artist with mp3s available on yourweb site or another free music service? If so, sendan e-mail with your URL, along with a descriptionof your sound (press clipping preferred), to:mpFree@antigravitymagazine.com.Dear Andrew,I’m in a band and we just finished recording our first album. We’re not signed and we’llprobably just put out the album ourselves. We are covering “Sussudio” by Phil Collins. Dowe need to get his permission to use the song? How are we supposed to contact PhilCollins? —Waldo J.Waldo,You do not need to track down Phil Collins and ask him for permission, but you will needwhat is called a “mechanical license.” A mechanical license is the license you need to reproducecopyrighted musical compositions on CDs, records, and tapes.Songwriters do not get complete control over their creations. While authors of books can decidewhat publishing house publishes their works, copyright law does not grant songwriters the samecontrol. Once a song has been recorded and released, the songwriter does not control who doesand who does not record and release their songs. Phil Collins does not get to pick and choosewho can cover “Sussudio.” US copyright law states that once a copyright owner has recorded anddistributed a composition to the public (or allowed someone else to do so), a mechanical licensemust be granted to anyone who wants to record and distribute the composition in the US, as longas they pay the royalty rate set by Congress. There’s nothing the songwriter can do to prevent hisor her song from being re-recorded and released, as long as the copyright owner is paid.Currently, the mechanical royalty rate set by Congress is 9.1 cents for recordings of compositionslasting 5 minutes or less. However, if you have recorded “Sussudio,” the extendo-jam version (Godhelp us all), then you must pay an additional 1.75 cents per minute. If your version of “Sussudio”does not exceed 5 minutes (we can only hope), and you press up 1,000 CDs, you must pay PhilCollins $91.00. If you do not, Phil Collins could sue you. Also, you cannot press the CDs, distributethem, and then wait for Phil’s lawyers to send you a nasty letter and then ask Phil for a mechanicallicense. It doesn’t work like that. If you make and distribute CDs before notifying the copyrightholder, you lose your right to a compulsory mechanical license. If you didn’t get the license, Philcould sue you for damages and then prevent your version of “Sussudio” from ever seeing the lightof day (and we’d all suffer from your mistake).So where do you go to get this mechanical license and how do you pay Phil Collins his 9.1cents? A large number of copyright holders of musical compositions (known as music publishers)have authorized the Harry Fox Agency (the “HFA”) to issue mechanical licenses and collectmechanical royalties on their behalf. Luckily for you, Phil Collins’s music publisher uses the HFAto issue mechanical licenses. The HFA website (harryfox.com) is a very user-friendly site. It has asearch feature to let you know if the HFA licenses the song you want to cover. Since the HFA doeslicense “Sussudio,” you can license the song through the HFA website and pay for the license withyour credit card. Fortunately (or unfortunately) Phil Collins himself need not be a direct party tothis transaction.Finally, it is important to note that HFA does not work on behalf of all music publishers.When a song you want to cover is not available for licensing through HFA, you must contact themusic publisher directly for a mechanical license. The best tools for finding out who publishesa particular song are the search features on BMI and ASCAP’s websites. ASCAP and BMI arepublic performance license agencies, so in your case, you don’t need to fool with them to get amechanical license. However, you can use their free search features to get the contact informationof a song’s publisher. In most cases, it even gives you a phone number.Good luck in you quest for a mechanical license for “Sussudio.”Hey Andrew,What’s the best band in town? - DarrylDarryl,The Black Rose Band rules. It’s just that simple.Andrew Bizer, Esq. is an attorney admitted to practice in Louisiana and New York.He previously served as the Manager of Legal and Business Affairs at EMI MusicPublishing and has worked in the legal department at both Matador and Universal/Motown Records. When he was 17, he sang in a grunge cover band with the singerfrom Maroon 5 (no kidding!). This column is to be used as a reference tool. The answersgiven to these questions are short and are not intended to constitute full and completelegal advice. The answers given here do not constitute an attorney/client relationship. Mr.Bizer is not your attorney. But if you want him to be your attorney, feel free to contacthim at andrew@bizerlaw.com. Or, just email him a question and he’ll answer it in nextmonth’s Antigravity.08_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative