Django and the Public Domain

stuology · May 2023

Today is the 70th anniversary of Django’s passing … which is a significant date in European law, as copyright normally expires 70 years after the death of the author.

I’m no expert on this but presumably this means that the publishing rights to all of Django’s solo compositions now fall into the public domain - is that right, does anyone know?

Rip · May 2023

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/18951/django-and-the-public-domain

Wow!

Rip · May 2023

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/18951/django-and-the-public-domain

Btw, stu, what’s that “non jazz related” footage you got about that you mentioned in your last post on the lost Django footage thread? You said it was more spectacular than Django. Any hints, I’m curious.

stuology · May 2023

Nothing of interest to anyone here. I’ll DM to satisfy your curiosity,

Azazzell · May 2023

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/18951/django-and-the-public-domain

In the EU, Django's compositions might be public domain ["in EU countries, copyright protects your intellectual property until 70 years after your death or 70 years after the death of the last surviving author in the case of a work of joint authorship https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/running-business/intellectual-property/copyright/index_en.htm#:~:text=In%20EU%20countries%20(In%20this,a%20work%20of%20joint%20authorship.]
In the US, it is unclear if Django's compositions are life+70 or life +95 ["US copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years. For an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work, or a work made for hire, the copyright endures for a term of 95 years from the year of its first publication or a term of 120 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first" https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-duration.html#:~:text=As%20a%20general%20rule%2C%20for,plus%20an%20additional%2070%20years.]
Meanwhile in Canada, let's try adding an extra 20 years to the copyright term. Will probably increase GDP by trillions. [https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2023/#canada]
If you publish music on big platforms such as Youtube, Twitch or Spotify, they can and will probably inconsistently do whatever they please (subject to change without notice).
There are no clear answers in music copyright, just degrees of probability of being taken down and/or being sued. Even the seemingly simple question of "Can chord progressions be subject to copyright ?" does not have an easy answer and people have been sued over chord progressions. ["While the chord progressions are typically not protected under copyright, there are always times when one can argue infringement. https://support.easysong.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500011426701-Can-I-Use-a-Chord-Progression-From-Someone-s-Copyrighted-Song-to-Create-My-Own-Song-]

So music copyright is an endless pit of despair [unless you are a lawyer, in which case substitute cash for despair]:

* If you publish through a big organization internationally - or on the internet - you are at their whim, but you might also be protected by their legal clout. Totally not a protection racket. Do read that contract and ideally hire a lawyer to read it too.

* If you self-publish one song in one country, do your research, call some government organizations, call some private copyright organizations, pay some kind of a fee per song, and you might be reasonably sure you're well covered. Still a good idea to hire a lawyer if you can afford it.

* If you self-publish internationally - or on the internet - do hire a lawyer if you can afford it. If you can't afford a lawyer just hope that you're too small to be worth suing and die before improved ChatGPT AI lawyers get you.

* In the improbable event that you start making millions of dollars from jazz immediately contact a lawyer.

Some old threads about copyright:

A reasonable algorithm for determining said probability of being sued