Orchestra To Turn Copyright-Free Classical Scores Into Copyright-Free Music

destinyland writes "An online music site has raised over $13,000 to hire a full orchestra to record royalty-free classical music. ('"Although the actual symphonies are long out of copyright, there is separate protection for every individual performance by an orchestra," notes one technology site.') MusOpen has reached their fundraising goal for both the orchestra and a recording facility, and will now record the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky. And because their fundraising deadline doesn't end until Tuesday, they've promised to add additional recordings for every additional $1,000 raised."

Comments

First

[hcpxvi]

Beethoven symphony! (I for one do actually welcome our new free-music-producing overlords).

Re:First

[BrokenHalo]

Right now, if you were to buy a CD of Beethoven's 9th symphony, you would not be legally allowed to do anything but listen to it.

On the other hand, you could obtain a score for the same work, and have the pleasure of spending unlimited hours imagining a variety of different interpretations as you read it through, "hearing" it in your head. This isn't actually as difficult as it might seem (given a little training and plenty of practice), and is highly rewarding.

Re:First

[darthdavid]

Yep, who needs an MP3 player, just cart around a 3 ring binder full of sheet music. Fun for the whole family!

Re:First

[RDW]

'Yep, who needs an MP3 player, just cart around a 3 ring binder full of sheet music. Fun for the whole family!'

Don't be silly, you just download http://imslp.org/ to your iPad and sit on the train, nodding thoughtfully to yourself while humming the viola part. This also ensures that the seat next to you will be free, giving you more space to stretch out.

this is great!

[FudRucker]

when they finish i hope to find another story here at /. linking to BitTorrent files to the music :)

Re:Open your wallets

[Barrinmw]

Not even saving abandoned puppies me thinks.

Not so fast

[paiute]

Dear Sir or Madame,

I represent the estate of Mr. Ludwig van Beethoven.

We see that you have downloaded a copy of Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 by Ludwig van Beethoven from www.musopen.com. Enclosed is a bill for $500, payable immediately.

We are aware that the site you have downloaded our client's work from represents it to be "copyright-free"; however, the musicians who recorded this work did so only after listening to a copyrighted recording of our client's work. Thus, this new work is a derivative work of Mr. Beethoven's and is covered under our copyright.

regards,

H. G. Reckshun, Esq.
Dewey, Cheatham, Howe, and Reckshun

Re:Open your wallets

[DarkIye]

All right, 'club smashers'.

'Dancefloor killers'?

Re:Broadway?

[Dogtanian]

Yes the synths can sound very convincing, but they're just not the same thing. They don't have the level of human error and randomness built in.

IIRC during the early 1970s one of the prog rock bands (I think it was Yes) had an early analogue synth that was extremely tempramental and unreliable. One evening in the middle of a concert it picked up a radio transmission of an announcer reading out the football results.

Now, you were saying...? :-)