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Hi !

I have a question concerning improvisations made in public and not published / edited.
I am an organist (in France) and I'm fond of Thierry Escaich (born 1965) organ improvisations. I have a 2 CD box including improvisations recorded during some concerts he gave (especially in USA and France).
For those who want the reference : Organ spectacular (2 CD / may 2008 / Universal)
I couldn't help transcribing one of them, for my simple personnal pleasure and then, for personnal use.

It brings me to the question of how should we consider improvisations on a legal point of view.
For example, can I share my transcription with friends and other people (not commercially) without taking risks ?
And what about if I plan to play it during a (free) concert ?
Of course, for this last point, I would ask the composer himself, first. But the question "is this work copyrighted ?" remains.

I would like to have your more expert points of view on that question.
For today, I just put these improvisations on paper for my own personnal use, so there should be no danger.
Anyway, it could be usefull for me (and others ... probably) to know what is the legal situation of such musical works.

Thank you in advance for your help !

Nicolas
Lille, France

As far as I'm aware, the improvisations are under copyright in France (and everywhere else). Since they're original to Escaich, it doesn't matter whether they were formally published or not (although the CD compilation might count), they'll be protected for 70 years after his death no matter what. I'm not familiar with France's fair use laws, but in many countries it is indeed legal to copy for strictly personal use. Sharing among selected other people, while of questionable legality, is probably not taking much of a risk, unless one of your friends works for SACEM; however, for a public performance you would be correct to ask permission.

Also bear in mind that fair use in many countries is a concept that exists in the copyright laws, but the interpretation of it is subject to court cases that would determine exactly what constitutes fair use. Most of the time, people don't risk being pulled into such law suits because of the cost and this means that fair use hasn't really been defined.

The issue may be whether you are disseminating your transcription to 3 people, or 50 people; a composer or publishing company will decide at some point that it's too much and infringing on their rights, or constitutes publication (even though you aren't charging for the pieces). A very hard line publisher (of which there are some) may very well decide that even disseminating to one person violates the personal use concept.

I think the best is to check the actual wording of the French law, and then "err on the side of caution."

Many thanks for your advices.

I expected that kind of answer since it sounds quite logical. Anyway, it was worth asking the question since, most of the time, improvisations are printed anywhere else than in our mind.
Consequently, I will keep transcribing some of his impros (so fascinating and rewarding) but only for myself. The music wont cross my room's door ....

And I hope it will help me improving my improvisation skills. Then, I will somehow take benefit of this transcribing work !

Again, many thanks for your quick and accurate replies!

Nicolas