Thanks jamriding and Colin!

Colin, super! Great to know that for sure, at least I can stop hoping and start looking for permission through the publisher who owns the rights of this work.

Performance right was mentioned by both as a ?, my guess is that if there's money to be made from the concert you'd need something like a license and surely not free. But in my case it's not for concert use, it's for TV and DVD, so I'll have to go through the publisher.

I think Addinsell lived MUCH too long.... [[:D]]

This occurred to me, if 70 years is the time to wait after the composers death (in most countries) wouldn't this be the year where all Gershwin's music becomes public domain? He died in 1937, + 70years = 2007. [[:D]]

Can someone confirm this?

Or, indeed, Rachmaninov or any of the other great (and not so great composers).

I think I'll take up knitting instead [:'(]

I can't vouch for the validity of this source but I found this quoted on Wikipedia about 'Rhapsody In Blue". Clearly it may be slightly out of date now but the Canadian reference may interest you Guy:

"This work may not be in the public domain in the US (due to first publication after 1922) or in the EU, or those countries where the copyright term is life+70 years. However, it is public domain in Canada (where IMSLP is hosted) and in other countries (China, Japan, S. Korea) where the copyright term is life+50 years."

It seems you also have to be careful regarding certain arrangements and orchestrations which may have been created after the compositions themselves and by different people - and which themselves may be published.

Are you as confused as I am yet? [:D]

Meanwhile I was doing some research and found out as a fellow canadian I benefit from canadian laws which unless I'm mistaken is 50 years after the composers death, according to my research, (but just noticed you had posted this) as for US and UK it's 70 years. This actually gives a HUGE advantage as a musician, in my current project I need to use some Rachmaninoff, this means no publisher's permission needed, how sweet it is. [:D]

@cwillsher said:

I can't vouch for the validity of this source but I found this quoted on Wikipedia about 'Rhapsody In Blue". Clearly it may be slightly out of date now but the Canadian reference may interest you Guy:

Maybe that's a special case, wasn't the orchestration done by someone else? A rare occasion where Gershwin didn't orchestrate his own work. So this would mean that possibly the original orchestrator who must of outlived Gershwin is the delay for this piece to become public domain, at least in Canada and Australia. I don't know, maybe I'm out to left field.... [:O]ops:

@Guy said:

Meanwhile I was doing some research and found out as a fellow canadian I benefit from canadian laws which unless I'm mistaken is 50 years after the composers death, according to my research, (but just noticed you had posted this) as for US and UK it's 70 years. This actually gives a HUGE advantage as a musician, in my current project I need to use some Rachmaninoff, this means no publisher's permission needed, how sweet it is. [:D]

Guy, there are different rules for different countries. I think that Australia is another 50 year territory, yet I also seem to remember that Spain and Belgium are (or at least used to be) 83 year territories. Rachmaninoff would seem to be out of Copyright in Canada, but check very carefully about the years added on due to the World Wars, if any. There is also a possibility that an editor has made changes to the scores that you are looking at. One would think that this would come under the heading of corrections, but in some cases Publishers claim that a new Copyright has been created. What is worse, is that in some of these cases the original manuscripts are kept under lock and key, so you can't even find out what the changes are!

The fact that you live in Canada is only an advantage if your music, or arrangements are only ever broadcast in Canada. As soon as they go to a territory that has different rules, you are in breach of Copyright, and the TV company would have to negotiate with the Publishers for that region to be allowed to use your arrangement.

Copyright rules can be a nightmare, and it is worth the cost of legal advice to make sure that you don't breach them.

DG

@DG said:

The fact that you live in Canada is only an advantage if your music, or arrangements are only ever broadcast in Canada. As soon as they go to a territory that has different rules, you are in breach of Copyright, and the TV company would have to negotiate with the Publishers for that region to be allowed to use your arrangement.

DG

That's right, I realized that not long after my last post, it was too good to be true....
Maybe I should stick to Josquin des Près, at least I'll be sure it's public domain... [:D]

@DG said:

The fact that you live in Canada is only an advantage if your music, or arrangements are only ever broadcast in Canada. As soon as they go to a territory that has different rules, you are in breach of Copyright, and the TV company would have to negotiate with the Publishers for that region to be allowed to use your arrangement.

DG

That's right, I realized that not long after my last post, it was too good to be true....
Maybe I should stick to Josquin des Près, at least I'll be sure it's public domain... [:D]
Depends on what Edition...!

D

@Guy said:

That's right, I realized that not long after my last post, it was too good to be true....
Maybe I should stick to Josquin des Près, at least I'll be sure it's public domain... [:D]

Now I conducted some Josquin des Près at Oxford in the mid seventies.

Deploration sur le mort d"Ockeghem. Fantastic piece...

Now that's REAL music (!) [:P]

@DG said:

The fact that you live in Canada is only an advantage if your music, or arrangements are only ever broadcast in Canada. As soon as they go to a territory that has different rules, you are in breach of Copyright, and the TV company would have to negotiate with the Publishers for that region to be allowed to use your arrangement.

DG

That's right, I realized that not long after my last post, it was too good to be true....
Maybe I should stick to Josquin des Près, at least I'll be sure it's public domain... [:D]
Depends on what Edition...!

D

Will I be at peace with Oh! Susanna? [:'(]

Actually I'm doing my own rendition of Gershwin, Rachmaninoff and Addinsell works,
so that eliminate one thing to worry about, but I'm not sure where to go from here to be honest, when I look on the internet under Gershwin I'm just more confused about the publisher, the same for Rachmaninoff, the only thing I know for sure is that I'm doing my own arr, of them.

@DG said:

The fact that you live in Canada is only an advantage if your music, or arrangements are only ever broadcast in Canada. As soon as they go to a territory that has different rules, you are in breach of Copyright, and the TV company would have to negotiate with the Publishers for that region to be allowed to use your arrangement.

DG

That's right, I realized that not long after my last post, it was too good to be true....
Maybe I should stick to Josquin des Près, at least I'll be sure it's public domain... [:D]
Depends on what Edition...!

D

Will I be at peace with Oh! Susanna? [:'(]
Probably not. [:D]

DG