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Composer confronts copyright abusers

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My excellent Samford student Chris Barbee pointed this article out to me about composer Jason Robert Brown’s confrontation of copyright abusers.
 
It is a long story, but many of you will find it fascinating.
 
Here is how it began:
Four thousand copies of my music were being offered for “trade.” (I put “trade” in quotes because of course it’s not really a trade, since nobody’s giving anything up in exchange for what they get. It’s just making illegal unauthorized copies, and calling it “trade” legitimizes it in an utterly fraudulent way.) I clicked on the most recent addition, and I sent the user who was offering that music an email. This is what I wrote:

Hey there! Can I get you to stop trading my stuff? It’s totally not cool with me. Write me if you have any questions, I’m happy to talk to you about this. jason@jasonrobertbrown.com

Thanks,
J.

Nothing too formal or threatening, just a casual sort of suggestion.

 

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Comments

  1. For all the discussions on Choralist over the years regarding the “borrowing” of multiple copies of choral music that are readily available for sale, my hat is off to Mr. Brown for actually going out and pursuing this. I have over the years contacted a few conductors who have asked to borrow multiple copies of my editions, and most of them have been kind enough, or so they said, to go out and buy real copies.
     
    Martin

  2. Love this! I’m actually trying to chase down some royalties from a mechanical license. A song of mine has been recorded on a CD and the royalties from that recording have not appeared on my checks. I’ve talked to my publisher a while back and they said they needed to wait because the timing for Canadian recordings was different than the U.S. rules. It’s time to “nag” them again…
     
    For all composers and musicians who are in Jason’s camp: Keep fighting the good fight.
     
     
    Julia

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