Discussion:
I'm sick of all the wannabe lawyers on this site.
Good luck at the community college, losers.
Answer:
If you're willing to write letters, try writing one to ASCAP. They are the ones that license music for use in business applications, not the RIAA.
See for more details...
Answer:
mykoleary is right on -- you need a license to do what you are doing.
"I read that copyright owners have the exclusive right to prepare derivative works."
Yep.
"Does that mean I’m prohibited from copying a 4:00 song into my PC, editing out a verse, and burning a 3:00 version of the song to a CD?"
Yes, but see below
"I’ve also heard that there are educational exceptions, but I want to emphasize that this studio (while certainly educational) is a for-profit venture."
Well, there is not an educational exception, but there is "fair use." Fair use is a concept that limits the reach of the copyright laws, and makes some uses okay that would be otherwise infringing. It's a balacing test between the rights of the copyright owner and the rights of someone else to use the copyrighted work. Use of a work in an educational setting is one of the factors considered in a fair use analysis; personal use (such asyour edited song) might also be a fair use in some circumstances. When a copyrighted work is used in a commercial setting, there is much less protection under fair use.
There are also some specific educational exceptions, but, as you correctly note, they do not apply in this case.
"If it’s ok for me to edit music for the studio to use to teach the kids"
Not in a for-profit venture without a license.
"is it ok for me to make a dozen copies of my edited work so each child in the class can have a practice CD to use at home."
No. Not only is this a violation of the copyright holder's right to control the creation of derivative works, this is also a violation of the rights to control reproduction and distribution of the work. Again, you gotta have a license for this.
"Obviously, I do this at no charge to the studio or the kids, but I know the issue is duplication and distribution -- not fees"
You got it -- doesn't matter if you are charging for it or not.
"And if I’m running astray of the law, is there any simple way to get copyright clearance to do what I’d like to do?"
See mykoleary's response. In addition to ASCAP, BMI also licenses music:
You may have to check both ASCAP and BMI for a particular song.
"If it’s an issue of each person who receives a CD from me needing to own their own legal original, I suppose I could require each of them to certify that they have an original CD or a legally purchased download."
This has nothing to do with the issue. Even if everyone had a copy of the original CD, you are still distributing an unauthorized derivative work.
"I've written to the RIAA and several record companies but have received no replies. No wonder people simply choose to break the law!"
The RIAA and the labels aren't who you need to contact -- that's why no response.
One last thing -- if your dance studio is playing any kind of music at all, they will need to have a license from ASCAP or BMI (the copyright holder also gets to control the public performance of their works!). The studio likely already has some sort of license agreement with ASCAP and/or BMI -- you could check and see if what you are planning to do is covered by their existing license. If they don't have a license.well...
Answer:
Just out of curiousity OP, what music service are you using that lets you burn second or third generation copies? All of the pay-for sites I've used have encoding embedded so second generation copies can't be made.
Answer:
Mailman, you've GOT to be kidding. It takes about 15 minutes to defeat that coding....
But no, I'm not going to tell you how. Why? Because it pays me money everytime someone hacks into a site like that
Answer:
"Just out of curiousity OP, what music service are you using that lets you burn second or third generation copies?"
The OP said she was burning the songs from a CD, so there isn't anything to prevent multi-generational copying.