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Copyrights, Tresona, DCI - 2 podcasts


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The first episode was Tresona co-founder Mark Greenburg.

http://www.marchingroundtable.com/2016/08/14/540/

The following episode, posted today, was Dan Acheson on DCI and copyrights.

http://www.marchingroundtable.com/2016/08/17/541-dci-copyright/

My personal reviews/recaps:

The Tresona episode was informative on how Tresona works and their role in the process. It was structured. Much more structured than the DCI interview. which was great. But it was also a bit canned in that Marching Roundtable had to submit all questions in advance. So there wasn't any critical questioning. A lot of talk about the great things Tresona does for composers, arrangers, buyers, bands, etc. And the problems are all everyone else's problems. Not Tresona's.

They don't specifically reference DCI until the end. Mark says that DCI is one of the great orgs to work with, Applauded there efforts and communication. He does reference their "hiccup with the fan network." And he says it was because DCI was getting some bad advice.

The DCI Interview was mostly centered on copyrights around the DVD's. The process for obtaining clearance. They talk about pricing. If If I rememer correctly, the had to clear 63 songs for the Top 12 alone. Well over 200 songs for all DCI music in a given year. They have been way ahead of the technology curve over the years on DVD, Blu Ray and especially streaming. But that also means they were ahead of the copyright-related resolutions. Now that rights-holders are more in-tune, the understanding of rights and what is allowed is more clear. (I suspect DCI's "bad advice" was some old advice before publishers started lining things up and knocking them down) Which leads to Fan Network. They would like to something back, but they will have to clear licensing, The the product will only be offered at a price that then makes financial sense (Definitely more expensive that it used to be)

Edited by mingusmonk
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The real problem is that we has copyright law in this country that allows for music that is decades old (from composers that have been dead for decades) to not be in the public domain.

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The real problem is that we has copyright law in this country that allows for music that is decades old (from composers that have been dead for decades) to not be in the public domain.

Copyright law is in serious need of reform. Public domain is all but officially dead at this point.

It's a shame that the corps don't feel that having appropriate clearance is in their best interest. Having the ability to listen to records/tapes/CDs and watch videos of shows was a huge thing growing up. Not getting your crap in a row destroys that possibility. Nobody wants to watch a video with a black screen or silence for some portion of the show, and they certainly don't want to have that when listening to an audio recording.

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Copyright law is in serious need of reform. Public domain is all but officially dead at this point.

It's a shame that the corps don't feel that having appropriate clearance is in their best interest. Having the ability to listen to records/tapes/CDs and watch videos of shows was a huge thing growing up. Not getting your crap in a row destroys that possibility. Nobody wants to watch a video with a black screen or silence for some portion of the show, and they certainly don't want to have that when listening to an audio recording.

until the lobbyists have little influence, little will change

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It's a shame that the corps don't feel that having appropriate clearance is in their best interest.

Why do you assume corps feel that way?

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Why do you assume corps feel that way?

It's because he's assuming the the individual corps are responsible for synch and mechanical rights, and that they should get those when they secure performing and arranging rights....which is absolutely *not* how the process works. At all.

Individual corps are responsible *only* for performing and arranging rights. Unless they plan to produce their own recordings, it's not only *not* something they do, they aren't even supposed to investigate the availability of mechanical/synch rights.

Only the producers of the recording (DCI or whatever company they contract) are able to secure those rights. That's why we sometimes have music that doesn't make the DVD/BlueRay. It's not because corps want that music removed, it's because the rights needed are not the same as what they (the corps) secured months prior. Mechanical and synch rights are only secured *during* the production process. The reason they aren't secured in advance is that some publishers want to see the final product, to ensure it's in line with the desires of the rights holder (preventing, say, a piece of music from being used in an offensive way, or way that runs contrary to the rights holder's views on his/her/their music).

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Why do you assume corps feel that way?

My opinion is because no one did anything about it on both sides for decades, and old habits die hard.

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My opinion is because no one did anything about it on both sides for decades, and old habits die hard.

I don't disagree on the history. But I feel the overall professionalism has stepped up lately, including on the copyright front.

What do you feel like the corps can and should be doing differently today?

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Not to mention that mechanical and synch rights can be far more expensive than performance rights.

Plus there is a very large number of works that need to be licensed. When a corps chops up eight or ten tunes in a single show, the cost of clearance skyrockets. It's a tough balancing act, I'm sure, to produce a legally saleable product at anything close to a reasonable price.

I suspect that's also why we don't see videos beyond the top 12. At some point the number of additional sales is too low to justify the cost of producing the product.

I'm sure it is not a lack of desire on the part of DCI and/or the corps to provide the products. But it's tricky business these days.

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It's because he's assuming the the individual corps are responsible for synch and mechanical rights, and that they should get those when they secure performing and arranging rights....which is absolutely *not* how the process works. At all.

I assumed no such thing. You're talking about legal responsibility, as in who must legally be responsible for such an arrangement. There is nothing in copyright law that prevents a drum corps from working with DCI and whatever partners ahead of time to try to make sure that the proper clearances are obtained before the show is even put onto the field. They know exactly how they intend to use the different elements, which could then be pushed through the process. You don't have to have a finalized performance recording in order to pursue such clearance and rights arrangements.

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