Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner - Non Classical Is it legal to sell advanced transcriptions of songs?

I transcribe pop hits a lot. The problem with piano scores from songbooks are that they are only intermediate level, lacking in greater detail like other instrumental melodies during the song, more chords are needed, and verses are usually written out as exact repeats when in fact they are somewhat different from each other. Chorus changes in intonation are not shown in these music sheets, and usually instrumental solos in the songs are entirely omitted. Sometimes certain bars are missing altogether for simplicity.

So I make these lackluster arrangements to an advanced version, usually as advanced as possible for two hands. The end results sound much better than the available scores in my opinion. Some of the songs have never been transcribed at all even. Having done so many of these, and of very popular songs from the past decades, I was wondering if I could start up a website for people who have the same complaints about the available arrangements of their favourite songs. Is it legal to put a price tag on these "embellishments" of mine, or do my scores still belong to the original publishing houses that made the first piano transcriptions?

I believe that unless they are "arrangement" (significantly different than the original work), which they obviously are not, they fall under the copyright protection of the original artist/owner.

So, yes - illegal (far as I know).

Even if they are an 'arrangement' you still have to compensate the composer. Probably you have to get permission from the composer and register your 'arrangement' as well.

Ok. But there are several websites that sell midi files of songs. I kind of doubt that they have permission from every artist. Or perhaps they do. I don't know.

There are lots of people selling heroin and methamphetamine. That does not make it legal.

No, it's not legal. Buy a license.

Here's a good source for the answer to your question and a million other legal issues in music.

http://www.amazon.com/Kohn-Music-Li...mp;ie=UTF8&qid=1308704378&sr=1-1


You can get the second edition used (it's just as good)for next to nothing:

http://www.amazon.com/Kohn-Music-Li...mp;s=books&qid=1308704158&sr=1-1

you would have to get a what is a called a folio licence from the publisher. The good news is that you don't have to pay for a mechanical licence. This is only if you plan to exploit it commercially. If you aren't selling it , you can do it.

But just because something is illegal does not mean you will actually get in trouble. If you are making enough money, be prepared to get served a cease and desist with perhaps a nice notice served that you are being sued.

It's most certainly illegal; however, there is a simple workaround. Simply list the available transcriptions on your website without any type purchase link and then offer to send customers the sheets of their choice in exchange for a "donation" of some sort(typically via paypal, for an amount negotiated by email).

Legitimate pianists do it all the time. For instance, http://vkgoeswild.com/

I like Vika's arrangements and have bought, er, donated for, a few myself. However, I think the proposed solution is still illegal, according to U.S. law. The violation occurs when you publish a derivative work without obtaining the right to do so from the original copyright owner. Whether you charge for that derivative work or give it away free is irrelevant.

It could be that copyright law is different, or equally likely, not enforced in Vika's home country. (Russia? I forget.)

Yes, Vika's webpage
http://vkgoeswild.com/?section=sheets

is precisely what I had in mind for my own transcriptions (and based on her sample, I think mine might be a bit more advanced than hers). Anyway, so bottom line: will she be going down anytime in the future? Don't be surprised if you see a new webpage like this sometime soon.

It's still illegal, IMO. There is also, IIRC, new legislation that tightens up this issue, but I'll check that out and report back. In short, I would not do it. It's not legal and it's not right - in that the artist/creator is not getting paid; to-wit:

http://youtu.be/mj5IV23g-fE

Cornell has a good site:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/usc_sup_01_17_10_5.html

I myself do not know about the legality of selling such transcriptions, but I thank you for making them. Most of the modern pop music songbooks for piano are rubbish. I am fascinated by the difference in the quality between songbooks from the 70s and earlier compared to those that are published today.

Exactly. We are actually doing good service here. The piano pop songbooks are simplified purposely so as to increase their marketability to include people with limited playing skills. For those who can play well and want their songs to sound as good as possible, there's currently no such publications. We need these transcribers.

The "workaround" is not legal. Read and understand the meaning of "copy right". It means that the owner has the exclusive right to make copies --or control through whatever arrangement they want the making of copies. The law does not have anything directly to do with payment -- although a compensation is normally a part of a licensing arrangement. But that's up to the copyright holder. If they want to license for free, they can, but somebody else can't just presume upon their generosity.

It's the same as someone bringing copy Fender or Gibson guitars into the US. It doesn't matter if they would be given away for free (how would you like that if you were Gibson? Would you feel better that what you owned (the design) was being given away for free instead of people making money on it? It still wrecks your market.

With the disclaimer that I'm not a lawyer, I don't believe just copying something violates copyright law. There needs to be damages as well. As far as I understand it, you can transcribe music for your own personal use, but distributing it is a different story. I can also build a guitar for myself that looks just like a Les Paul, but I can't sell it with "trademark" headstock, exact body shape or logo.

I didn't claim it was, and it doesn't have to be. The "workaround" is designed not to soothe your conscience but rather to help you not get caught, and case studies show it's highly effective (note the fact that "legitimate" (i.e. perform in the public light), well-known pianists do it often without consequence). Perhaps I should have emphasized that in my post, but please don't lecture me on copyrights.

Whatever happened to morality? Opps...forgot...its obsolete now! Today, its "get away with whatever you can" until they come after you. Nice.

Nice that is until an intellectual property that you have created (read: music) is ripped off by some creep transcribing/recording/whatever without your permission.

When that happens to you, then you will change your sorry-xxx tune and scream bloody murder.

Here's a radical thought....try and do the right thing, and actually compensate the artist for their work.

Haha, now you're catching on.



I don't know... If I'm were to make millions of dollars recording tracks with auto-tune and then lip syncing a few concerts, I really wouldn't be worried about the a few hundred dollars made by some random guy transcribing my music. Shoot, if I were to make millions of dollars as part of a band with real talent, I still wouldn't mind. But if I were just starting out, I can see how that might be troubling.

Then again, research indicates that the spread of pirating has actually led to direct increases in artist revenue, due to the greater exposure it provides.


Yeah, it is the right thing to do, but it's too much work.

And down the tubes we go with that style of thinking.