Adam Savage of Mythbusters tweeted this blog entry of a exchange between composer/artist Jason Robert Brown and someone who was trading his music. Very interesting discussion [Continue]

J. Byron writes “ Exposing the Happy Birthday story: An editorial by J. Byron, May 2003, rev. June 2003 In this article, I attempt to answer three questions: 1 - What is that song Good Morning to All, and how does it relate to Happy Birthday to You? 2 - Is the melody to Happy [Continue]

The History Channel has a program on December 26th about Saving Our Recorded History. The Library of Congress has thousands of recordings that are endanger of being lost these include: "Lead Belly's last sessions recorded in 1949; radio broadcasts from the bombing of Pearl Harbor; and one of the most precious American recordings - Woody [Continue]

Did Ellington and Strayhorn get along? Well, the heirs of their estates are certainly are NOT. Seems that the rights to “Satin Doll” are at stake. "Third-party plaintiffs, Famous Music Corporation and Mercer Ellington (collectively "the Ellington Estate"), filed a third-party complaint against third-party defendant, Gregory A. Morris, [Continue]

Sometimes, reality is too funny. Here is an article saying that John Cage‘s representatives are trying to copyright silence. Oh my gosh. What is next, the John Coltrane foundation going after players for using Coltrane’s licks? What is the deal? In another related story, the Music Industry has been convicted of price fixing. Naw. You [Continue]

This website comprises hundreds of documents (texts, scores, audio and video files) associated with music copyright infringement cases in the United States from 1845 forward. All of these documents have been collected, edited, digitized, organized, analyzed, and commented upon by staff at Columbia Law Library and the Columbia Center for New Media [Continue]

Will this be the death blow to internet radio? The American Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (“CARP”) is proposing to lawmakers that internet radio stations pay royalties retroactive to 1998; royalties of .14¢ per song per listener for Internet-only webcasters, .07¢ per song per listener for broadcast radio simulcasts, and [Continue]

This article tells of a settlement in royalty rates. "The Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel said AM and FM radio stations should pay 0.07 cent per song, with Internet-only Webcasters paying 0.14 cent per song. The rates, retroactive to 1998, also charge a 9 percent "ephemeral license fee." Why the higher rate for internet music? I [Continue]

Anonymous Coward writes “I read about DownSlam here some months ago. Just wanted to let you know they are now accepting music uploads for their new disribution model. If this catches on it could really put the screws to the recording industry. After all, they have been screwing us for a long time now and [Continue]

The EFF is staging a public concert in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park to promote its “Open Audio License” (OAL), a music license based loosely on the GPL. There is also an interesting critique that discusses the intended and unintended effects of the EFF’s license, and suggests alternatives that might be more beneficial [Continue]

Napster is pretty much dead, but they are planning to launch a subscription based service this summer. They will supposedly be dropping MP3 and using a “new digital encoding technology” by PlayMedia Systems to share the files. Now, I’m all for a subscription service. I’d pay for access to ANY SONG or ALBUM in the [Continue]

The first one deals with ASCAP “enshrining” some jazz greats, including Johnny Hodges. The second is a suit by the RIAA in response to a suit brought by the Digital Media Association. The original DMA suit was seeking clarification of Webradio licensing. I guess they have their answer now…… Why can’t we all just play [Continue]

CNET.Com ocassionally has a good article. Here is one such article. It details the War over the Internet CD Database (CDDB). Basically, it was a free thing that people on the internet contributed their CD info if it was not in the Database. The creators were bought out, and obtain a copyright and decided that [Continue]

Here is an article I found on Newsforge.com. A couple of music lovers think the Electronic Freedom Foundation's Open Audio license is such a good idea they want to provide a place for musicians to list their pieces released on the new Open Source-inspired music license. Stuart Whitmore, founder of the fledgling OpenMusicRegistry.org is planning [Continue]

I found this and frankly, I find it real disturbing. The American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers is threatening to SUE day camps and other organizations for using songs like “God Bless America” unless they license the songs. This is really too much. I cannot believe that they can justify charging the Girl Scouts [Continue]