Ethics (Was: Fw: looking for 2 tango's)

[Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown @DAL.FRB.ORG>]

>>Some DJs in Buenos Aires use old recordings to produce private CDs that
>>contain tangos, valses and milongas that are not available on
commerically
>>released CDs.

>Whereby I sometimes ask myself, whether this offends some copyrights,
>especially if you use it on public events link milongas.

I think this question has legal and ethical answers that may be somewhat
different.  As I understand it, copies of recordings more than 50 years old
can be made legally without paying royalties to the original artists, their
estates or recording companies, so long as a nominal payment is made to an
international licensing agency (which does not remit the money to any
original copyright holders).  Any copies of commercially produced CDs would
be illegal, however.

Some companies issuing old tango recordings on CD are the original
copyright owners or make arrangements with the original copyright owners.
Some companies issuing old tango recordings are simply making the nominal
payment to the international licensing agency.  Those individuals who are
making privately produced CDs from tango recordings are typically not
paying any licensing fee or making arrangements with the original copyright
owners.  Enforcement is typically not too zealous, but private releases can
substantially reduce the market for commercial releases, which may be
keeping many old tango recordings from being made available commercially.

Interestingly enough, playing the music at public venues has different
legal implications.  Owning a copy of a CD (legal or otherwise) does not
typically confer the rights to broadcast the music or to play it in venues
that charge admission.  Typically venues are required to obtain site usage
licenses to play any type of music by paying a general licensing fee to
their local music licensing organization, and most often the organization
in one country has a reciprocal arrangement with the licensing
organizations of other countries.  In this case, the licensing organization
is less concerned about the legality of the copy than about the right to
play music at a public venue.  The zealousness of enforcement varies from
country to country and city to city.

I am not claiming any legal expertise or complete knowledge on the subject,
and I would certainly welcome clarifying remarks from those who have better
knowledge.

With best regards,
Steve (de Tejas)

Tango Argentino de Tejas
http://www.tejastango.com/