IMSLP Forums

Hello, I would like to ask how does contribution works in this project

For example if a contributor wants to upload some scores of a composer (for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Vivaldi - March 4, 1678 – July 28, 1741) then he can do it in one of this two ways:
- making a trip to Vivaldi's home town, ask at the churches, museums, libraries for old manuscripts written by the composer himself or published in the years when the works were created, then scan them. Those manuscripts should be in the Public Domain in any country, absolutely beyond any doubt
- OR buying/lending some publications with printed scores, making sure those publications are in the Public Domain, and scan them.

Is that correct? And: I guess the second method is prefered and used by the majority of the project's contributors, right?

Now, the work of the composer (Vivaldi in this case) is in Public Domain, however, a book/publication with the scores of some of that artist work can be very well copyrighted (for example something published this year) and should not be scanned in that case (the publication can have distinctive and copyrighted features used for displaying something that is in Public Domain). That means, a contributor must be carefull about both aspects:
- the work of the artist is in the Public Domain
- the publication he is scanning is also in the Public Domain.

There can be a third way of contributing:
- if the original composer's work is in the Public Domain, but the contributor to the IMSLP can find only a copyrighted book, then he can use some program for editing scores, and produce a score matching the one in the printed book, print them as PDF and then upload to the project. However, he/she must be carefull and make sure that the copyrighted book he is using as source reproduces what he thinks (i.e. Vivaldi's work), and not a compilation/modified version. Anyways this way would cost much more effort, and in case a contributor is doing this, he can upload also the file in source code (used by the score editing software). That source code should be usefull for creating midi files, I guess

One last thing:
the contributor himself can claim that the PDF files are copyrighted by him, and one day can even ask for the files to be removed from the project, so the project should encourace contributors to release their work in the Public Domain. Some can say this is somewhat paranoic - however, I think it's better to be more clear than less clear. In the ideal case, the end user will have a score that:
- the artist's work is in the Public Domain
- the publication from which the work was scanned is in the Public Domain
- the PDF file containing the score is in the Public Domain

I would like to get some comments about the above things, to make sure I understand the basics of the project and how contribution works

thanks

The third way only works if the book is an urtext edition, and all editorial marks are removed.

I'll just add one detail to perlnerd666's statement. You should remove any editorial markings that were added that are the editor's original contribution, as markings added in from other public domain sources are not subject to copyright protection.

No it is not correct to say that unpublished works are out of copyright in every country. In the UK they are certainly not out of copyright unless the copyright holder has released them into the public domain. In the UK it will not be until 2040 that unpublished works will have the same copyright duration rules as published works. In many countries, like Australia for example, unpublished works still have perpetual copyright protection until published.

To be fair to the original poster, his example was Vivaldi, and the vast majority of the Red Priest's work has been published up to now, in Vivaldi's own lifetime from about 1710 onward in some cases, to the editions from the mid 20th C up to the present in the new critical edition by Ricordi. In the case of the urtext editions there are limitations on the term of copyright that can apply, depending on the jurisdiction of publication, so it would be entirely proper for someone to ask for clarification here – though it may transpire that the discussion would quickly have to turn to specific details of publication dates, country of publication, nationality of the editor and the significance of his/her editorial contribution, ... et cetera, et cetera, Vivaldi opus 4, et cetera, ... </Yul Brynner>

The unpublished works for a composer as well known as Vivaldi, Bach or Handel are vanishingly small at this point in time – although new items do very occasionally turn up: a couple of years back a researcher at my university, Dr Jan Stockigt, uncovered a Handel setting of Gloria in excelsis Deo (parts of which he subsequently reused in HWV 232 Laudate pueri Dominum and HWV 258 Zadok the Priest!) and obviously for a work of that nature, there are proprietary rights that do apply to the work. These are "exceptions" to a rule, though when urtext provisions can persist for 25 or 30 years or longer, the number of "exceptions" can get rather large.

Regards, Philip

PS By the way David, in certain jurisdictions – for example France, if I recall correctly – a composer may be unable to "release them [i.e. his/her music] to the public domain", since the French law repudiates the idea of a copyright holder relinquishing his or her rights altogether!

Nitpicking aside, it is because of this morass of fine details, that it would seem better for contributors to suggest ideas which can be answered generally, as I suggested above, before having to get into the actual nitty-gritty of multiple national domains of different possible copyrights which is frankly, quite horrible, and minutely effects varieties of works based on their individual circumstances!