IMSLP Forums

Despite being in Canada where the copyright has expired, I am unable to access any of prokofiev's works because they are non-PD in the US and EU. Whenever a site such as google is detecting my location, it always sees I am in Canada. Furthermore, I've tried on several Canadian computers. So I think its a problem with IMSLP rather than the individual computers. I'm not too familiar with computers and code. Does anyone know how to get around this?

There is no way. IMSLP made the decision many years ago to not have IP sensor tech to allow or disallow downloads, as it is very unreliable. If a piece is not DLable by you, it's not DLable by anyone.

There are several works by Prokofiev downloadable at IMSLP, but those are the ones that are public domain both in the United States and Canada, for example the first Piano Concerto. These would be works that were published before 1923.

Due to a threatened lawsuit several years ago, IMSLP does not simply make everything available that is public domain in Canada, nice as that would be for those of us in countries with Life+50 copyright terms. I think the policy is that it has to be PD in 2 of the 3 big regions -- the US, the EU, and Canada.

Because Prokofiev died in 1953, much of his work is public domain in both the EU and the US, making it not feasible to open it to everybody.

Look for a [TB] mark next to the files. If it is there, it means the file cannot be downloaded by anyone. By the way, a block means a file hasn't gone through copyright review yet, and should be unblocked soon.

Anything that has neither of those marks can be downloaded, but the user is still responsible for checking the law in the country he uses the music in -- if the music is PD in 2 of the 3 regions, and you are in the 3rd region, you may not legally download or use the music.

steltz wrote:I think the policy is that it has to be PD in 2 of the 3 big regions -- the US, the EU, and Canada.

This is more of a partially true unintended technical consequence of the current setup than an actual policy. For general clarity:

PD in Canada, US, EU --> accessible through Canadian server
PD in Canada, US only --> accessible through Canadian server
PD in US, EU only --> accessible through US server
PD in Canada, EU only --> accessible through EU server
PD in Canada only --> inaccessible
PD in US only --> accessible through US server
PD in EU only --> accessible through EU server (very unlikely to occur)
PD nowhere --> removed from site

So, actually, files are completely inaccessible in only two cases - out of the three possibilities of being PD in only one jurisdiction, two will still allow the file to be accessed. I'd say this is a pretty good deal, all we need to do is relocate Project Petrucci LLC to Canada and it's perfect.