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Public Domain

11/19/2013

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Picture
© 2013 Jonathan Minkoff

Arrangers, especially in a cappella music, are always looking for songs to arrange. And once they make an arrangement, especially a good one, those arrangers are often asked for copies. What should they do?

Some give away the arrangements, some sell the arrangements. But, unless the arranger has permission from a composer, selling or gifting copies of arrangements is illegal. 

Thankfully, there is an exception: The Public Domain.

Works in the Public Domain are free for anyone to use in any way they choose. You won't need to make any payments, and you won't need anyone's permission. The trick is knowing whether a particular published song is actually in the Public Domain or not. 

The chart below can go a long way towards helping you determine the answer. All you need to know to begin, is when the work was first published. Once you have that, you're off!

Public Domain Chart for Works Published in the United States


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Permission to Arrange for Live Performance

2/2/2012

61 Comments

 
Permission to Arrange for Live Performance
by Jonathan Minkoff ©2009

 Does a group need to get permission to arrange a song before performing it live? It’s a question that comes up a lot. The answer to that is 


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The Legality of Arranging

2/2/2012

250 Comments

 
The Legality of Arranging
By Jonathan Minkoff ©2009

WHERE DOES THE RIGHT TO MAKE MUSICAL ARRANGEMENTS COME FROM?
The constitution of the United States gives 


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Who Owns The Arrangement?

2/2/2012

39 Comments

 
By Jonathan Minkoff ©2009

Sarah’s been in the New York University Women’s College Bobbletones since her freshman year. She arranged every single one of the songs for 

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© Jonathan Minkoff. All rights reserved. Disclaimer
Nothing on this site, whether an article or a comment, or otherwise, is legal or tax advice. It's merely a general discussion of the law. If you have a specific question or situation requiring legal or tax counsel, you need to speak to a specific lawyer, personally, who will ask you specific questions about your specific situation which will allow him or her to do specific research in order to give you specific advice.