My D is a full-time staff accompanist in the music school of a state university. She also does recitals with soloists throughout the country. She is going the have a recital with a soloist in less than 4 weeks in a gathering specifically for professionals and students of the soloist’s instrument. One of the pieces is a recent published piece (premiere in late 2015). The soloist has asked the composer to send a copy to D. Through the email communication between D and the composer, he implied that he will not do that and suggested that her school purchase a copy. D did immediately make the request to the music librarian and email the composer. Meanwhile D explained to the composer that it will take months before the library acquires, catalogs the sheet music. The composer replied that’s great. And that’s the end of it. She checked WorldCat.org and found out that there is only one institution that owns a copy and it does not have any partnership/agreements with her library. She ended up requesting through ILL (InterLibrary Loan) anyway. Got that music today. For those who don’t know, ILL is expensive especially when the lending library does not have partnership/agreement with your library.
D had have composers sending her sheet music free of charge on request of the soloist. And she said that it is a common practice. Is it? I do understand that composers need to make a living. That’s why I asked if it is a common practice. But this piece is very new and judging from the fact that only one academic library owns it and the recital is a perfect promotional tool of the piece, shouldn’t the composer be pleased to send it for free?
I’m confused, you say the piece has been published, then there is a contract with the publisher from whom the piece should be requested. It’s quite possible it would violate the terms of the composer’s contract with the publisher to provide the parts for free. (Often a free perusal score is available.) And, yes, this is one way a composer supports themselves. Did your D contact the music publisher?
If the composer publishes the work themselves, then they can provide scores and parts for free whenever, and to whomever, they may wish. This is one reason some composers choose not to go with an outside publisher.
Your last paragraph is potentially worrisome for young composers who spend months writing pieces : )
The fact that a piece is " very new" does not mean it does not deserve protection. How new? If the piece has been published, and is in a library, it can’t be that new, nor can the composer be a complete unknown. It is no doubt copyrighted. And possibly the composer receives royalties for performance. This composer may not need the “promotional” opportunity but may instead be established. And composers like some control over performances of their works, so just sending scores out threatens that. Many issues here.
Are you familiar with the composer, or was your daughter familiar with the composer’s work, previously? Feel free to PM me. Is the soloist well known with relationships with composers? Not really clear on any of this.
As compmom suggests, at an early stage in a composer’s career, he may be delighted to have his pieces played anywhere, and will provide sheet music for nothing. At a later stage, though, he has to stop doing that if he intends to make a living on his music.
For SpiritManager: The reason why I asked the questions is exactly the questions you asked me. I don’t know the legality of it and I don’t know what the common practice is. The publisher was never mentioned in my post. The communication between the composer and D started after the soloist request the music sent to D. I would say the music is semi self-published (ASCAP). Before the internet era, when a researcher published a journal article, he/she would retain several copies (I wouldn’t say many, but at least 20, some would reorder if they ran out) of reprint (probably had to pay for the cost). The researcher will send the reprint to others who requested it for free. Maybe it does not work this way for composers.
For compmom: the answers to your questions are in my original post.
I didn’t say that just because it is a new piece it does not deserve the protection. I work in a academic research librarary, I value copyright more than most people. Some well-established composers sent D sheet music for free. Some became friends of hers after performance. Well, I guess everyone does his/her own way.
@pointegirl - it makes an enormous difference if the music is published by a Music Publisher, or is available only from the composer. Most composers are registered with either ASCAP or BMI and receive royalties for live performances of their work (this is my S’s main source of income.) However, if my S had his music published through an established publisher like Boosey & Hawkes or Schott, then all permissions for performances would have to go through the publisher and they almost always charge a fee for the music itself. Some publishers are known to be more giving than others. It is discouraged, if not actually a breach of contract (depending on the arrangement,) for the composer to provide the sheet music to the performer for free. Since there is a library which has a published copy, it sounds like in this case there may be an official publisher. (I imagine occasionally a library has in its collection a privately published score - but that would be a rarity.) Does that help?
My S also runs a large New Music Ensemble, and if the composer they’re working with is with an official Music Publisher then there can be substantial fees for the parts. They are able to view perusal scores for free, however. But if the composer is not officially published, then all monetary arrangements, if any, are directly with the composer.
These things can be complicated. My daughter is trying to use a poem (that in on several online poetry forums) in one of her compositions and has had to contact a publisher to get permission (the poet is no longer living). The issue isn’t necessarily money, though that is sometimes relevant, but the ability of the publisher (and/or author/estate) to have some control over how it is used. I read about “fair use” and “free use” criteria because I was curious. Music scores would be different of course, unless published and available online. With the poem, she has easy access but not permission.
Now that it is Friday and everything is calm, I have more time to think it over. 1. The work is commissioned. 2. I stated that the work is semi self-published because I can’t find any information about the publisher and the location of the publisher changed when the composer moved. The is no publisher name or information on the cover, the name appear only on the bottom first page of the score along with (ASCAP). I would have omitted “semi” have I not seen ASCAP.
I was puzzled why the soloist asked the composer to send D a copy of the music. Now it is clear to me that it is the connection between the soloist and the composer. I do not know the definition of “famous”. Certainly the soloist is not famous like Yo-Yo Ma or Itzhak Perlman but the soloist is well-known in her discipline. The soloist and the composer do know each other and were associated with the same institution for a few years. I apologize that I can’t reveal more. I can almost certain that some time after the premiere, the composer sent a copy to the soloist as a goodwill gesture. I do think that the composer has a few copies of the music at his disposal (Don’t you want to keep a few copy if you were the composer?). D is still at her 20’s, not famous, and probably will never be. The composer has the right to pick and chose who he sends the music to for free.
Maybe there is some legal issues involved but the composer never mentioned them. In my simple mind I don’t think the whole thing has anything to do with publisher, copyright or loyalty. Different people handle same situation differently. Sorry about all the fuzz.
Thank you everyone who responded. I do learn a few things. I never knew that a performance has to go through the publisher. D never mentioned the legal issues. Since D is only an accompanist, the legal issues were probably handled by the soloist and/or the recital sponsor.
The other wrinkle to this is that if the piece was commissioned by a particular soloist there may be a contract between the soloist and the composer. A standard contract restricts performances and recordings by other performers for a set period (generally a year or two.) After that the performance rights usually revert to the composer.
Having ASCAP on the score simply means that the composer is registered with ASCAP and anyone who publicly performs the piece will need to be certain the presenter has paid their annual licensing fees to ASCAP so that the composer can be properly paid their royalties. School recitals are an exception and no royalties are paid. Formal college concerts where the public is invited are another matter. The annual fees are minimal but essential. Because composers’ income is dependent on performances of their work, it’s rare for a composer to discourage anyone from playing it, unless they feel that the representation would be to their disadvantage.