Question:
Here is my question:
If someone records a worship service and sells CDs of that service, would they be allowed to change the title of a song for the CD jacket? Is that a way around getting copyright permission, or is it a copyright violation (or does it not matter at all)? On the CD I'm referring to, the correct authors and copyright information are printed in the booklet, but the titles of a couple songs have been changed.
Thanks.
Answer:
I'm pretty sure that would be illigal...
If you are selling the CD at all you have to have permission.
Answer:
Question #2 - If you have copyright permission, then can you change the title?
Answer:
This is where we sit back and wait for Nate to come in and grace us with his wisdom
Answer:
Originally Posted by Sunkist If someone records a worship service and sells CDs of that service, would they be allowed to change the title of a song for the CD jacket?
It might not be the wisest thing, but I think it would be allowable. Titles are not copyrightable, legally or logically (c'mon; how many songs do you think have been written with titles such as "I Will Always Love You," "Love Song," etc?). The reason you would use an author's original title would be to correctly identify the source you've copied (just like citing anything else, when you use someone's copyrighted material) so that others can look it up... or something. It's just common courtesy, really. I don't think there's any law about it.
Is that a way around getting copyright permission, or is it a copyright violation (or does it not matter at all)?
It is certainly not a way to get around having to obtain permission (though you don't have to obtain permission [since it's a compulsory license] to record a cover; just some paperwork), since the underlying song (not the title) is the thing that is copyrighted... and that obviously remains intact.
There are cases when the title to a work is not well known (many hymns, for instance) or when there are alternate titles (copyright registration forms even give you a specific place to write in alternate titles for the work you are registering), and it's ok to use a different title than the original author did... though I'd advise simply using their title for simplicity and courtesy's sake.
In His love,
Nate
Answer:
Originally Posted by Micahbell I'm pretty sure that would be illigal...
If you are selling the CD at all you have to have permission.
You're in Canada... you have some of the loosest copyright laws I know of. You can probably even bootleg without fear of copyright infringement lawsuits. If your licensing legal codes are anything like what I've read of your other copyright-related legal codes, then you can certainly record someone else's song without their permission. That is, unless, of course, I'm not as well-versed on Canada's copyright laws as I think I am (which is entirely possible, since I'm not very well-versed at all, actually).
Ask your dad or something, Micah.
In His love,
Nate
Answer:
Canada copyright stuff: I had a friend in high school who recorded a cd but because it was all cover songs she just wasn't allowed to make any profit off of the disc. I don't know what would happen from a disc containing both covered and new material though.
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From my knowledge of Australian copyright even recording a song without permission is illegal... im not sure if this is the same in other countries although i imagine it would be.. you will probably find however, that many christians artists will allow their music to be used in certain circumstances.
For changing titles etc this without permission is also prohibited.