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bogus CC0 marking on recording?

Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2024 5:02 pm
by dsz
On this page:
https://imslp.org/wiki/Fanfares_et_Simp ... an-Joseph)

there are two recordings that show "Creative Commons Zero" as the copyright. But it seems doubtful this correct. I am not at all an expert on copyright, but my understanding is that only the copyright holder can grant the permissions included in CC0. But there is no indication that has happened. The publisher is shown as "Erato 1956". According to Wikipedia, Erato was eventually acquired by Warner Music Group, so I would assume they own the copyright. I can't find anything on their website that suggests they have released any recordings under CC0 (which would be very surprising!). So what is the meaning of that Creative Commons Zero label? (Also, on the file info page for these two audio files, at the bottom it says "Content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License", which is not CC0.)

It may be this recording is PD in some countries (though not in the U.S., as stated in the listing). But then there is no copyright holder (under the local laws) so no one to declare it CC0.

Re: bogus CC0 marking on recording?

Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2024 5:30 pm
by DBMiller
Yes, this is bogus. This should be listed as "Public Domain."

Re: bogus CC0 marking on recording?

Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2024 7:38 pm
by Sallen112
dsz wrote: Sun Feb 18, 2024 5:02 pm On this page:
https://imslp.org/wiki/Fanfares_et_Simp ... an-Joseph)

there are two recordings that show "Creative Commons Zero" as the copyright. But it seems doubtful this correct. I am not at all an expert on copyright, but my understanding is that only the copyright holder can grant the permissions included in CC0. But there is no indication that has happened. The publisher is shown as "Erato 1956". According to Wikipedia, Erato was eventually acquired by Warner Music Group, so I would assume they own the copyright. I can't find anything on their website that suggests they have released any recordings under CC0 (which would be very surprising!). So what is the meaning of that Creative Commons Zero label? (Also, on the file info page for these two audio files, at the bottom it says "Content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License", which is not CC0.)

It may be this recording is PD in some countries (though not in the U.S., as stated in the listing). But then there is no copyright holder (under the local laws) so no one to declare it CC0.
When we get new submissions on any pages that have these historical recordings on then uploaded under a CC0 license, I usual change the Copyright field and the tags with them. At the time when these were uploaded, due to a misunderstanding of the copyright laws for recordings (which we have corrected this in the policy updates, but still have to be fixed over time on the workpages now as we find more pages with these incorrect details on them), the recordings were already in the public domain in Canada and the EU (but not the USA), so the files assumed they were dedicated to the public domain, when they were really already in the public domain, thanks for letting us know about this. There is more recordings on the site that have to get these details fixed on historical recordings that were uploaded under a CC0 license that should be Public Domain, so if you see anymore, let us know.