The situation is different now but sheet music sales were once the most common way composers & songwriters could get some reward for their efforts. It's still possible to purchase individual sheet music for most types of music & in theory anyone wishing to play it should have the sheet music. Every time they perform other people's compositions in public a detailed list of every composition performed should be submitted to the Performing Rights Society in order that the royalties can be distributed. The organisers of the event are responsible for submitting the list & paying the royalties.

This is fine in theory & some of the bigger venues I used to play at during the 1960s-70s actually asked for a list of songs we had performed during the evening. The fact was that this list was usually very different to what we had actually played so some very obscure composers were paid royalties for songs that we had never played.

PS. This is done for the composers benefit & not the record companies so no musician should have any complaints about it. Unfortunately it can lead to some ridiculous situations. http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=music;action=display;num=1...

Quote:

LOL That is the most ridiculous explanation I've heard.

Quote:

All successful & budding composers are advised to have their compositions published. This is their copyright & the only way they can ensure being paid for it & not having it stolen by someone else. Many composers cannot read or write the dots themselves these days so the music is often transcribed from recordings by professional musicians who specialise in doing it. One local musician I knew well back in the 1960s made a good living out of it. The actual music or modern arrangement of it might not be written down accurately for various reasons but this is still the official copyright version of the composition by the original composer.

Single copies of sheet music for most popular songs are still published & available by order from any decent music shop but many publishing companies also produce books of songs at reduced prices. It's possible to get the music of an album by a popular performer or group all in one book & these are still very popular. Whatever music these books contain & some are of perhaps 100 songs by various composers, they should still credit the original composers & are subject to copyright themselves. The publishers of these books of music have to pay the original publishing company & hence the composer for permission to print them. It's no different from any other form of copyright.

PS. Apple Corps was the Beatles music publishing company. They are now suing EMI for £35 million in unpaid royalties. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4535330.stm

Quote:

Personally I never considered it wrong but the publisher & composer of the original work might think otherwise. This is one reason for the published version of a piece of music often being very different from the latest hit record of the same tune. The hit might be an arrangement of a song written many years ago & the sheet music will be the same as when it was first published.

It really depends on the circumstances & is very similar to any copyright issue - Freeware FS addons for example. I don't think anyone would object to their music being transcribed for personal use or teaching purposes but this might be viewed differently if it's performed on stage for profit or published on the Internet for general use. It's a complex issue which has only recently raised its head but I can't see the point in being a successful composer if you don't get rewarded for it. So many people seem to completely ignore copyright these days & we live in a society that sees nothing wrong with using something without paying for it.

PS. I've always felt exactly the same about the file-sharing culture. Many otherwise respectable people see nothing wrong with it so my values might be regarded as old-fashioned.

That's fine as if the sheet music isn't available it's quite likely the copyright has lapsed & it's in the public domain. It's also quite possible that someone already did it & published it online. Not everyone has the knowledge to transcribe music even if they can play by ear. Many highly paid professional musicians can't read or write a note.