MUSIC.THD --- Copyright 1987 by Phil Wheeler An original compilation of Compuserve Model 100 Forum messages for use by Forum members only. Sometimes a very short, simply stated question generates lots of discussion. In this case the subject of these messages is "Music Copyright". And the openning question has to do with the use of copyrighted music in a Model 100/200 program. Read on... Message range: 145626 to 146687 Dates: 4/15/87 to 4/27/87 Fm: Neil Wick 71056,613 To: SYSOP I have a spinning globe graphic, but I would like to put music of "It's a Small World" with it before uploading it. However, I guess I really can't do that because the music is copyright. Do you know the answer to this? Fm: Denny Thomas 76703,444 To: Neil Wick 71056,613 I wouldn't worry. The copyright doesn't cover this kind of performance any more than it would cover singing in the bathtub. The usual intent is for the original recording or air play on TV, radio, or jukeboxes to be covered by copyright. Fm: Mark Lutton 73106,1627 To: Neil Wick 71056,613 Compuserve users have been sending music files via the music sig and the IBM sig for a long time without hassles. Just be careful about any Beatles songs or Disney songs -- the copyright holders are mean and nasty. I think "It's a Small World" is a Disney song, isn't it? The copyright holders of the Beatles songs are so nasty that in a book I have where the first few measures of tunes are printed for identification, there's just blank space for the Beatles tunes -- and they don't even mention the names of any Disney tunes! Disney hassled Edward Albee about his play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolff." Fm: Neil Wick 71056,613 To: Mark Lutton 73106,1627 Yes, it certainly is Disney and I don't think it's the same as singing in the shower because it constitutes distributing permsnent copies of it. Fm: Mark Lutton 73106,1627 To: Neil Wick 71056,613 Lotus won't pick on Microsoft, but Disney picked on a small group of cartoonists who did "Mickey Mouse and the Air Pirates Comix" about 15 years ago -- comix that showed Mickey and Minnie doing rather un-Disney-like things. You are probably safe if you don't set obscene lyrics to the tune and if your work doesn't become so well-known that Disney notices, but you'll be a lot safer if you pick a song written by anyone but Walt Disney Enterprises or the Beatles. (One characteristic, by the way, of a Walt Disney song is that no human being wrote it.) Fm: Neil Wick 71056,613 To: Mark Lutton 73106,1627 I can see why Disney would object to those comix, especially if it used "Mickey Mouse" in the title, a clear violation of their property for profit. I don't know if I agree with your statement that no human being wrote a Disney song. Though many of the voice actors did not receive credit in early Disney films, every piece of Disney music I have is labled with writer's names. Music for "Walt Disney's It's a Small World" is clearly labled "By Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman". This pair has done many Disney film songs ( such as Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious), and I believe the songs for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which looks like a Disney film but isn't. (Directed or produced by Broccoli who does the James Bond movies, and written by the same writer as Bond stories.) Fm: Mark Lutton 73106,1627 To: Neil Wick 71056,613 I was actually a bit unjust in what I said about Disney credits. Yes, humans do get credit at Disney sometimes, particularly for music and in the movies. Unfortunately we had to learn about Ub Iwerks and Carl Barks from other channels. Maybe the rule is "Workers get credit for everything but drawing; all drawings are done by Walt Disney." (As for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, did you know the book is by Ian Fleming?) Fm: Neil Wick 71056,613 To: Mark Lutton 73106,1627 I know what you're getting at, but I'm afraid I have to disagree again regarding Ub Iwerks. For example, "Steamboat Willie," the first Mickey Mouse cartoon released has the the following on the title screen: "A Walt Disney Comic by Ub Iwerks." Even in "Sleeping Beauty," Ub Iwerks got a credit for "Special Processes," and I don't think he even worked on it. Walt got no credit for anything there except "Walt Disney presents Sleeping Beauty" Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: Yes I discovered it was by Ian Fleming about a year ago when I was re-watching the movie on video. Ian Fleming received spy training during WW2 about 5 miles from where I live at "Camp X" in Whitby, Ontario. Leslie McFarlane, who died a couple of years ago in Whitby, wrote about 50 of the original Hardy Boys books. He was paid a flat fee (something like $20 each), and was not to reveal that he was F.W. Dixon. His identity became wellknown around here after he got angry that the company re-wrote his text to make the books "easier to read." He always liked to provide a little challenge for readers.