Piano Pieces for Children. Everybody's Favorite Series No. 3

[tds]

revised and edited by maxwell eckstein (amsco music publishing co). yes, the green, rather thick student book. everyone knows what i am talking about, right? ok, next year i am planning to make a set of cd companion of this book, i.e. record piece by piece in perfect order. title and the design of the cd cover would likely be very similar also (if not the same). now my questions: do i have to ask permission to amsco publishing company? are all these pieces in the public domain? what's the copyright laws that i need to know so no infringements whatsoever would ever occur once the cd's are out in the market. i need good answers on this. pls help. thank you  

[tds]

h e l p

[stevebob]

The critical criterion for "good answers" to your question would be that they come from a lawyer with knowledge of copyright and intellectual property issues.  If you plan to market your project, then you need to hire a professional qualified to advise you.

[tds]

The critical criterion for "good answers" to your question would be that they come from a lawyer with knowledge of copyright and intellectual property issues.  If you plan to market your project, then you need to hire a professional qualified to advise you.

lawyers i talked to seemed at best uncertain and at least confused when i addressed this seemingly rather specialized field. those who know much about this issue, please share some insights. thanks

[stevebob]

The Amsco "Everybody's Favorite" series is published by Music Sales Group.  The company has a website with a FAQ and contact information, so you might consider inquiring directly with them.

[scottmcc]

the easiest way to find out if the pieces are in the public domain would be to look on imslp.  anything that's still copyright protected will be clearly labelled on that site.

i'm pretty sure that if you market your cd as a companion to the book, without AMSCO's permission, that you will be liable for something, and I wouldn't recommend that.  they may not own the songs, but the design of their text as well as their cover artwork etc is their intellectual property and you don't want to mess with a big corporation's IP department--it'll get ugly in a hurry.  even if you do nothing illegal, the question of impropriety will be raised and they will do their best to make it too expensive for you to fight them.

however, if you were to make a cd containing the same public domain works, but in a different order (say alphabetical or whatever), and with different packaging and not marketed as a companion, then you'd probably be fine.

i'm sure that if you google "music intellectual property lawyer" you'll find a series of links like this https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=music+intellectual+property+lawyer&aq=f&aqi=&oq=&gs_rfai=CW3FDgQCKTJT1OJG6hATQ6rSoBgAAAKoEBU_QMmZ5 and that at least one of them will be helpful.

cheers.

[tds]

@scottmcc: thank you for the response. i think you are right, i will have to right to amsco

[stevebob]

@scottmcc: thank you for the response. i think you are right, i will have to right to amsco

Guess what?  It wasn't scottmcc who suggested you "right" to Amsco and provided contact information to do so.

[tds]

my apologies, i stand corrected. i overlooked your post. good piece of info, bro! regards, teguh

[stevebob]

I'm glad I could help, and I likewise apologize for my snippy tone.

Best wishes with your project!