From: alevin@clemson.edu (Andrew Levin) Newsgroups: rec.music.classical.performing Subject: Important Copyright Information (long) Date: Fri, 14 Jun 1996 14:42:10 -0500 Organization: Clemson University Dear fellow musicians, The following is an open letter from Luck's Music Library concerning current legislation before Congress. This posting does not constitute a full endorsement from Orchestralist or list owner Andrew Levin; however, it does contain information of vital concern to all of us. For more information, call Luck's at: (810) 583-1820. I have cross-posted this letter to two other news groups. Please forgive me, but I thought it an important enough issue to breach Netiquette. For information regarding Orchestralist, the mailing list for the orchestra professional, write Andrew Levin at . See also the Orchestralist and Conductors Home Page at "Current Legislation before Congress (S. 483, HR 989) The above bills currently before the respective houses of Congress contain provisions within them which we feel would have a severely adverse effect on music performance and education in the United States by unfairly limiting the availability of a large body of important musical material. The stated purpose of these bills is the extension of copyright protection on works conceived or published after 1978 by an additional twenty years, to life of the author plus seventy years. We have no quarrel with this goal. __However, these bills also seek to extend the copyright protection offered to pre-1978 works by another twenty years, to a total of ninety-five years.__ This would effectively freeze the public domain for twenty more years, allowing non of the important works of the decades between the 1920s and 1950s to become available for unrestricted use. For music educators and performing arts organizations, this would mean that many worthwhile compositions would remain either unavailable or be available only at very high prices requiring them to continue paying performance royalties and rental fees, for an additional 20 years. We can only hope that it is not the intent of Congress to transfer resources from non-profit arts organizations to a few wealthy corporations, especially during times of government cut-backs for the arts. We urge you to call or write your Senator or Congressman to express your opposition to these two bills or notify the bill sponsors by faxing a copy of this letter along with your name and address stating your opposition. Bill Sponsor State FAX Number Abraham, Spenser (S) MI 202-224-8834 Becerra, Xavier (H) CA 202-225-2202 Berman, Howard (H) CA 202-225-5279 Bono, Sonny (H) CA 202-225-2961 Boxer, Barbara (S) CA 202-224-3553 Clement, Bob (H) TN 202-226-1035 Coble, Howard (H) NC 202-225-8611 Conyers, John, Jr. (H) MI 202-225-0072 Feinstein, Dianne (S) CA 202-228-3954 Gallegly, Elton (H) CA 202-225-1100 Gekas, George (H) PA 202-225-8440 Goodlatte, Bob (H) VA 202-225-2961 Gordon, Bart (H) TN 202-225-6887 Hatch, Orrin (S) UT 202-224-6331 Heflin, Howell (S) AL 202-224-3149 Leahy, Patrick (S) VT 202-224-3595 Moorhead, Carlos (H) CA 202-226-1279 Nadler, Jerrold (H) NY 202-225-6923 Quillen, James (Jimmy) (H) TN 202-225-7812 Schroeder, Patricia (H) CO 202-225-5842 Simpson, Alan (S) WY 202-224-1315 Thompson, Fred (S) TN 202-228-3679 In 1995, Congress passed the GATT Agreement. Within this agreement was a little-known provision which restored Russian copyrights that were not previously recognized. No longer will the works of Prokofieff, Kabalevsky, Khachaturian, Stravinsky and others be available in the public domain. What does this agreement mean to you? Starting in 1997, your school, university, community or professional orchestra will be required to pay performance fees in addition to very high rental fees each time you wish to perform these works. Starting in 1997, arrangers will no longer be free to adapt these works for school orchestras without being subject to litigation. Finally, starting in 1997, GATT will require educational and non-profit art organizations to pay royalties to a few wealthy corporations for works which have been free, and in the public domain, for over forty years. In the GATT Agreement was not enough, Congress has introduced new legislation (see above) which gives copyright holders an additional twenty years over and above the seventy-five years they currently enjoy (for a total of 95 years!). For example, works such as Prokofieffıs _Classical Symphony_ (which is a recently restored copyright work under GATT) or Gershwinıs _Rhapsody in Blue_ would become public domain in the year 2000. Under proposed legislation, these works would not become available until the year 2020! Congressıs attempt to extend pre-1978 copyrights and prevent any _new_ works from entering into the public domain for the next twenty years will cause untold hardship and loss of millions of dollars for educational and non-profit organizations throughout the country. We urge you to contact your Congressman regarding Senate Bill S. 483 and/or your U.S. Representative regarding H.R. 989, to delete any provisions to extend pre-1978 copyrighted works by another twenty years. If you should have questions regarding GATT or this proposed legislation contact us at (810) 583-1820.