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]

After all the lawsuits they have started, they finally won one. In a major win for record companies seeking to establish precedent for prosecuting those who trade copyrighted material on the Internet, a federal jury awarded six firms $222,000 in damages from a Minnesota woman who shared music online. Jammie Thomas, 30, was ordered to [Continue]

It is sad that one of the great makers of mouthpieces and horns has messed up everything. From a Newsday Article: “David Guardala is sort of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the saxophone world, according to federal prosecutors and some of those he is accused of swindling. As of yesterday, Guardala was in [Continue]

I just picked up a copy of Tim Ries “The Rolling Stones Project”. I have to say, this is probably the best CD I’ve bought in 2005. I can’t think of another CD that I bought in 2005 that was better. Seriously, I think the industry needs to stop doing American Idol and other cheese [Continue]

Author Orson Scott Card has a great article/column on his take of copyrights. Excellent views! Some musicians are getting verbal about the RIAA suing people. This article seems to suggest that there is finally some realization that the record industry is screwing the artists. There is even mention of iTunes Store. I still think more [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]

For a long time, it was thought that John Berry wrote the famous “James Bond Theme”. However, it’s not true. Here is an interesting look into what happened, and how it got corrected. [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]

According to this New York Times article(registration required), Harry Connick Jr. is a proud owner of Patent 6,348,648. A system and method for coordinated music composition and display among musicians is presented. The system and method enables a conductor, composer or band leader to interactively edit one or more score parts of a composition [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]

If you don’t get David Liebman’s newsletter, go and subscribe to it. David Liebman is very interesting, and I enjoy his thoughts and prospectives on whatever he writes about. In the last issue I received today, he had an interesting section. Here it is: THE IRS and PRACTICE ROOM DEDUCTION: From a newsletter I get, [Continue]

Copy protected CDs. Yes, they are coming thanks to the Universal Music Group. To prepare for the backlash they are likely to receive, they have a support site up complete with FAQ section and how to get a refund if the CD doesn’t work. I doubt they will be doing this to any jazz CDs [Continue]