| Subject: Re: Copying music for auditions From: "Richard Barrett" To: VOCALIST <vocalist> Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>
This issue raises an interesting question - what is one supposed to do when music is out of print? I've run into this one a couple of times - one ended happily, one did not. For the first one, I was trying to track down an anthology of 20th century American art song in the high key, and all anybody seemed to have was the low key. Turned out that both editions had been out of print for a few years, it's just that the publisher printed a lot more of the low key, expecting to sell more of those. I was faced with no other option to get the music in question than to write the publisher for permission to photocopy my voice teacher's book (or, as one sheet music dealer suggested, buying the low key so I could say I had bought a copy, and *then* photocopy my teacher's book) - and then at the last minute J.W. Pepper came up with one copy of the high key.
The other one: I had read about and had heard a recording of Hamilton Harty's "Ode to a nightingale," and tried to track down the music, only to find out that a) not only was the music out of print but b) the publisher was out of business. Interlibrary loan turned up one copy, but of course it had to go back after a month. I wrote the university in Ireland that maintains the Harty collection to ask them for a copy, but they said they could do nothing without written permission from the publisher. Since the publisher doesn't exist anymore, what's the solution to this?
And, anyway, I hate making photocopies. The Xerox machine is the worst thing to have ever happened to sheet music, period - it's the sole reason for music prices having been driven up as much as they have. People make photocopies, thinking that they're getting a copy they don't have to pay as much for, but what they're really doing is making everybody else pay for it. Since the publisher doesn't wind up selling as many, the prices goes up and/or the piece eventually goes out of print. In addition, composers don't earn as many royalties and have a harder time making a living, so there's less incentive for people to compose and try to publish their work. And, unfortunately, there's no real solution at this point. The behavior (of photocopying music rather than buying it) has already been taught and justified to the majority of the music-using populace (at least, it was at my university).
Thoughts?
- Richard
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