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MusingMuso

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Yes it's a gem, glad it went down so well. I am playing that and also his "Satyagraha" at my church in September. Plus the Aaron Copland "Episode", should be interesting!......

 

R

 

I don't know the Copeland, is it a transcription or an original organ piece? Have you met Glass's Music in Contrary Motion for Organ.?Musicroom have it but alas there are no sample pages to look at. (On which subject: does anyone know of any dealers which, like Amazon do with books, offer sight of a sample page or two of music?)

 

Peter

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I'll throw in my experiences here...

 

Like MM, Cynic and others I've observed on this board, I have a thirst for obscure music...

 

If I can't find it for sale, and I've exhausted my options with the publisher, I'll dig up a copy from a colleague, library etc. I've never come across a piece that I couldn't find eventually (albeit some have taken YEARS to track down, like the elusive Organ Symphonies of Vaubourgin and Fleuret)

 

I agree that traditional publishing could benefit from an on-demand system - I currently produce my stuff that way, and while I lose some profit, I don't have to spend time printing/assembling/posting scores.

 

I started my own company out of disgust for traditional publishers shenanigans - they all seemed to want to have complete control over my music (down to permission to re-write portions of it) and no guarantee that if it went out of print that I could regain control. When I take on a new composer, I make an agreement to take half of the net profit (what's left after production cost). The composer can ALWAYS ask to have their score removed from my catalogue and rights returned to them.

 

So far this has worked well and seems to be a fair way to go.... would that more companies could do the same.

 

Cheers,

 

-G

 

 

=================

 

 

This is a rather worthy post......publishers take note!

 

It seems to me that the piblishers want to have their cake and then eat it.

 

There may be other ways of doing it, but are there not two distinct categories of copyright?

 

There are "comissioned works" where the puiblisher buys all rights and retains them for the appropriate length of time, and there are "non-comission works" where the creator still has the right to sell the work to others or publish themselves.

 

What I find almost beyond belief, is that publishers (who seem to be nothing of the sort) are happy to sit on gold-mines of copyright material, and then allow it to languish for a few centuries (Ok...decades) making no money at all, while it is "out of print."

 

Surely, in the real world of commerical saviness (is that a new word?), I would have thought that selling ANYTHING is better than selling nothing, so why can't they either (a) do what we suggest, and supply special order copies, or (B ) allow others to buy the one off right to produce the appropriate copy on payment of a fee?

 

It COULD work rather well in this day and age, with electronic style printing. You could either re-set the original onto a new layout and disc, pay the one off fee, and then print off, or you could make a digital image of the original copy (perhaps for a slightly higher fee) and do the same.

 

This way, everyone should be happy, because the publishers get SOME money rather than none at all, the printer gets his bit, and the performer and his/her doting public are delighted. "Art" remains intact, of course.

 

What is the problem?

 

Are music publishers just "old school" dinosaurs?

 

MM

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I don't know the Copeland, is it a transcription or an original organ piece? Have you met Glass's Music in Contrary Motion for Organ.?Musicroom have it but alas there are no sample pages to look at. (On which subject: does anyone know of any dealers which, like Amazon do with books, offer sight of a sample page or two of music?)

 

Peter

 

Actually, the printing service I use allows me to display as many pages as I wish in preview - for shorter works I might only give the first page - for longer I will give a page or two of each movement. I also try to give full-length recordings of ALL of the pieces in both a high quality and low quality audio file, so that prospective customers can at least hear the piece and get an idea of what it should sound like. This seems to be a very good approach, and has been well-received so far.

 

I've tried to encourage similar practices by traditional publishing houses - even briefly negotiated with one well-known publisher about providing the audio files in exchange for free scores, but that never materialized. There was an attitude that the idea had possible merit, but since they were still selling music without it, they felt no need to go the extra mile.

 

I think there will need to be serious revisions in copyright law and most of the "old school" hierarchy will need to pass to their eternal reward before we see any widespread revisions in how music is distributed.

 

Cheers,

 

-G

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Actually, the printing service I use allows me to display as many pages as I wish in preview - for shorter works I might only give the first page - for longer I will give a page or two of each movement. I also try to give full-length recordings of ALL of the pieces in both a high quality and low quality audio file, so that prospective customers can at least hear the piece and get an idea of what it should sound like. This seems to be a very good approach, and has been well-received so far.

 

I've tried to encourage similar practices by traditional publishing houses - even briefly negotiated with one well-known publisher about providing the audio files in exchange for free scores, but that never materialized. There was an attitude that the idea had possible merit, but since they were still selling music without it, they felt no need to go the extra mile.

 

I think there will need to be serious revisions in copyright law and most of the "old school" hierarchy will need to pass to their eternal reward before we see any widespread revisions in how music is distributed.

 

Cheers,

 

-G

 

 

-------------------------------------------

 

 

I think this confirms my point, because on the one hand, you are doing something different which works and is well received, and the publishers are happy to plod along as they always did, and presumably get less than they otherwise could do.

 

I think that the most valuable change to copyright law would be to limit the amount of time a publisher can claim copyright if they allow a work to go "out of print," because what they do at the moment is not in the interests of anyone except themselves, and could also be regarded as anti-art.

 

MM

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Guest Lee Blick

Just been perusing Blackwells online organ music section. Been in 7th Heaven, buying allsorts! It is just as well, because I didn't fancy having to go all the way to Banks in York, to be confronted by that 'Scary Nick' telling me my latest "The Complete Keyboard Player" purchase is a load of rubbish (I dont buy that sort of stuff really). :P

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Just been perusing Blackwells online organ music section. Been in 7th Heaven, buying allsorts! It is just as well, because I didn't fancy having to go all the way to Banks in York, to be confronted by that 'Scary Nick' telling me my latest "The Complete Keyboard Player" purchase is a load of rubbish (I dont buy that sort of stuff really). ;)

 

 

================================

 

Perhaps not, but "Scary Nick" (who isn't scary at all, by the way), would instantly be able to tell which is the best edition, which contains mistakes, which is urtext, whether it is available and how much it costs, without having to leave the telephone.

 

He's worth his weight in gold, and must have saved me thousands of hours of idle browsing over the years.

 

There aren't many people in the world in whom you can place such trust, but I cannot recall a single instant when he has got something wrong or let me down, and all off the top of his remarkable head.

 

He is the musical equivalent to my old head-master, who prided himself on knowing the names and nicknames of every boy who had attended the school in the entire 26 years of his regime.....about 8,000 of them to be exact.

 

MM

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Perhaps not, but "Scary Nick" (who isn't scary at all, by the way), would instantly be able to tell which is the best edition, which contains mistakes, which is urtext, whether it is available and how much it costs, without having to leave the telephone.

 

He's worth his weight in gold, and must have saved me thousands of hours of idle browsing over the years.

 

There aren't many people in the world in whom you can place such trust, but I cannot recall a single instant when he has got something wrong or let me down, and all off the top of his remarkable head.

 

He is the musical equivalent to my old head-master, who prided himself on knowing the names and nicknames of every boy who had attended the school in the entire 26 years of his regime.....about 8,000 of them to be exact.

Pete McMullin at Blackwell's is pretty good, though.

 

Paul

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Guest Lee Blick

Scary Nick should run a Premium Number phoneline for organists needing organ music advice. He would make a fortune.

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