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11 hours ago, Lance said:

Cadets did The Big Apple in 99, so I'm not sure all of his work is off limits. 

Ah, forgot that was him. To be honest, I think we played Gandalf my sophomore year of high school, I told my band director we should march it the next year, and he said his music was off limits. In retrospect, that might have just been a canned answer for him to give to students and I've since held onto the info as fact.

 

So....who's going to march Gandalf?

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1 hour ago, ouooga said:

Ah, forgot that was him. To be honest, I think we played Gandalf my sophomore year of high school, I told my band director we should march it the next year, and he said his music was off limits. In retrospect, that might have just been a canned answer for him to give to students and I've since held onto the info as fact.

 

So....who's going to march Gandalf?

Black Gold from Tulsa, OK played de Meij's Lord of the Rings back in 1992 and 93 - they were a below 20th place corps each of those years, but it was interesting hearing it done on the field after playing it in college during that same time period.  I think the first time I saw them do it was at Preview of Champions at Vanderbilt in 92.  I wonder if they procured the licensing for that when they did it those two years? My guess is probably not but ya never know - I don't think they made the video set in 1993 because they were out of the top 25, but I believe I have the video from 1992 quarterfinals when they performed it (they made top 25 that year).

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On 3/15/2017 at 4:57 PM, frachel said:

Currently playing 3 movements of the LoTR Symphony #1. Holy double-tonguing-from-hell for all the trumpets (4 trumpet parts in this one) in Gollum. His stuff is certainly interesting.

I saw de Meij himself conduct a 25th anniversary performance of this at Valparaiso a few years ago, featuring two wind ensembles. Michael Boo was the tympanist for one of the groups, but there being only one tympani part, he stepped aside to allow the other to perform.

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20 hours ago, Lance said:

Cadets did The Big Apple in '99, so I'm not sure all of his work is off limits. 

And de Meij was actually in attendance at Finals that year, which was even noted on the PBS broadcast that night. I asked him what he thought following the Lord of the Rings performance at Valpo, and his face took on a pained expression. He said that he admired the talent on display, but was disappointed that the music took a back seat to the visuals.

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4 hours ago, MikeN said:

Black Gold '92 is actually on Youtube.  I listened to this a lot on cassette back in the day.  Nice show.

https://youtu.be/EH_1ScRbehc

Mike

I'm quite enjoying that. Thanks for the link!

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It is technically possible to get rights on pieces by de Meij. But that does not speak to the likelihood. I have covered this before but it has been almost 5 years and have all slept since then. So here is a recap:

11 years ago, the following composers were involved in a copyright skirmish with BOA. It caused a fairly significant delay on BOA video products. I cannot find a direct link to BOA's press release, but here is the text announcing their settlement reproduced from multiple websites and forums:

 

Quote

 

Bands of America, Inc.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 31, 2006

The undersigned entities and persons have jointly released for public knowledge the following release and informational statement.

The undersigned wish to confirm their mutual respect for the rights of composers, the integrity of copyrights, the value of music, and the importance of music education. Consistent with these views, the parties acknowledge that composers and publishers have the inherent right to be properly compensated for the commercial use of their music, and the corresponding right to enforce theirs copyrights by legal action if necessary. This naturally includes those instances in which copyrighted compositions are performed, recorded, and subsequently distributed in CDs, videos and/or DVDs. Recently, the undersigned have been involved in litigation related to the foregoing. We are pleased to announce that we have resolved that dispute. In so doing, we look forward to the continued promotion of music education (both curricular and extracurricular), while adhering to the important and beneficial safeguards of the U.S. Copyright laws.

Bands of America

Scott McCormick, President and CEO

Eric Martin, Vice President and COO

Johan de Meij

Philip Sparke

Jan Van der Roost

Stephen Melillo

Amstel Music, BV

De Haske Music Publications, BV

Anglo Music Press

Studio Music Company

Stormworks

 

Since the year of that tussle (2006), there has been zero Van der Roost in DCI. I only see two documented DCI usages of de Meij (2009 Cavaliers, Les Stentors) and two documented Sparke (2009 7th Regiment, 2014 Carolina Crown). Melillo's work saw frequent usage in the 2000's (mostly in smaller divisions) and stopped dead cold after 2005 ... that is, until 2014 Cavaliers and then 2016 SCV.  It seems things might be starting to thaw a bit. Interesting to keep an eye on it.

 

Edited by mingusmonk
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9 minutes ago, mingusmonk said:

It is technically possible to get rights on pieces by de Meij. But that does not speak to the likelihood. I have covered this before but it has been almost 5 years and have all slept since then. So here is a recap:

11 years ago, the following composers were involved in a copyright skirmish with BOA. It caused a fairly significant delay on BOA video products. I cannot find a direct link to BOA's press release, but here is the text announcing their settlement reproduced from multiple websites and forums:

 

 

Since the year of that tussle (2006), there has been zero Van der Roost in DCI. I only see two documented DCI usages of de Meij (2009 Cavaliers, Les Stentors) and two documented Sparke (2009 7th Regiment, 2014 Carolina Crown). Melillo's work saw frequent usage in the 2000's (mostly in smaller divisions) and stopped dead cold after 2005 ... that is, until 2014 Cavaliers and then 2016 SCV.  It seems things might be starting to thaw a bit. Interesting to keep an eye on it.

 

I stand by my argument that more corps should compose their own music (with different, easier methods than the commonly held methodology).

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On 3/15/2017 at 10:09 AM, ouooga said:

I thought de Meij wouldn't license his music for drum corps, which is why no one's played Gandalf yet.

Johan de Meij, Jan van der Roost, Stephen Melillo, and Philip Sparke are four composers I know of that charge EXORBITANT licensing fees, far above the standard. Melillo and de Meij, in particular, are very choosy about who they grant licenses to (Melillo, I believe, refuses to grant arrangement licenses to any and all high school marching bands... but the Cavaliers got the rights to a piece in 2014 and Vanguard did also just last season). (edited to add: based on MingusMonk's post, I believe these four intentionally "priced" themselves out of the affordability of high school bands...it also appears there is a thaw between Melillo and DCI, but not Melillo and BOA.)

But if I've learned anything about arrangement licensing it is this: it's all about WHO you know. I have seen many legal arrangements of music on the "don't bother asking" restricted lists. The only composers I can think of who maintain a 100% refusal rate for arrangements are John Williams and David Maslanka.

Video and synchronization licensing is a whole 'nother barrel of rotten fish. There are a ton of composers/publishers who will issue arrangement licenses with no drama who absolutely will not under any circumstances grant video licenses for that music.

Edited by hostrauser
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