BuzzGig’s newest publication, Legal Issues in the Music Industry, is now in galley proofs, preparing for a January release. - - - MJD

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   Two years ago we released the Complete Copyright Kit for Composers & Musicians, our first foray into e-publishing.  Summer of 2008 saw the release of The Teacher’s Guide to Copyright in paperback, PDF, & Kindle editions.  So, what’s next? I just finished the draft of Legal Issues in the Music Industry, based on the […]

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An interesting article from The Public Domain website about Congressional hearings on the 1909 Copyright Act.http://www.thepublicdomain.org/2009/07/17/were-we-smarter-100-years-ago/My comments:
An important point of clarification is in order here.  The piano rolls were not “sound recordings”. They were mechanical reproductions of compositions. The argument was that you couldn’t “read” a piano roll as you […]

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Here are some videos about copyright and the music business that you may find helpful. - - - MJD
1 Overview of Copyright Law
2 Composers’ Rights

3 How Record Labels Earn Money
4 The Dual Purpose of Copyright Law

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This breakdown of the cost of a typical major-label release by the independent market-research firm Almighty Institute of Music Retail shows where the money goes for a new album with a list price of $15.99:
$0.17 Musicians’ unions
$0.80 Packaging/manufacturing
$0.82 Publishing royalties
$0.80 Retail profit
$0.90 Distribution
$1.60 Artists’ royalties
$1.70 Label profit
$2.40 Marketing/promotion
$2.91 Label overhead
$3.89 Retail overhead
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These figures are close, […]

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