I posed this question to another forumer in a private message, and he recommended I pose it to the whole forum.
As an American, we have certain laws regarding copyright when it comes to music. As an Orthodox Christian, I want to abide by my country's laws and not be stealing anyone's work unlawfully.
In Orthodoxy, there are things such as icons and musical compositions that are unofficially considered in the "free domain", even if they are under a copyright. So that parishes may copy and use them as needed, or so iconographers can copy and replicate them.
For those of us who like to compile as much chanting material as possible, what is a good rule of thumb for downloading and acquiring recordings?
Recordings are a very new thing in terms of human history. So this is a brand new issue coming out, especially for our church.
Where are rights for acquiring recordings and CDs? There are some CDs out there which would be considered under copyright, but are no longer in production.
There are others, such as CDs from Mount Athos, which provide a source of income for the Athonite monasteries, but due to our distance from Mt. Athos, would be cost prohibitive in acquiring. We might spend $25 USD in purchasing a single CD, $50 USD for two, and an additional $15 USD to get it shipped over here.
This is extremely cost prohibitive for us, as is anything going from the USA to Greece.
This might be a huge reason for the prevalence of all the printed & laminated icons here in the USA, as we don't have enough iconographers to provide the demand, and we cannot affordably order iconography from overseas.
Currently, to help my conscious and so I am absolutely sure that I don't fall under the sin of theft, I've only been downloading recordings/videos from individuals, rather than ones that come from produced & monetized CDs and studio recordings. Ones that are obviously not a source of revenue for the individual.
For those who are lawyers, or knowledgeable about these issues, what would you suggest?
As an American, we have certain laws regarding copyright when it comes to music. As an Orthodox Christian, I want to abide by my country's laws and not be stealing anyone's work unlawfully.
In Orthodoxy, there are things such as icons and musical compositions that are unofficially considered in the "free domain", even if they are under a copyright. So that parishes may copy and use them as needed, or so iconographers can copy and replicate them.
For those of us who like to compile as much chanting material as possible, what is a good rule of thumb for downloading and acquiring recordings?
Recordings are a very new thing in terms of human history. So this is a brand new issue coming out, especially for our church.
Where are rights for acquiring recordings and CDs? There are some CDs out there which would be considered under copyright, but are no longer in production.
There are others, such as CDs from Mount Athos, which provide a source of income for the Athonite monasteries, but due to our distance from Mt. Athos, would be cost prohibitive in acquiring. We might spend $25 USD in purchasing a single CD, $50 USD for two, and an additional $15 USD to get it shipped over here.
This is extremely cost prohibitive for us, as is anything going from the USA to Greece.
This might be a huge reason for the prevalence of all the printed & laminated icons here in the USA, as we don't have enough iconographers to provide the demand, and we cannot affordably order iconography from overseas.
Currently, to help my conscious and so I am absolutely sure that I don't fall under the sin of theft, I've only been downloading recordings/videos from individuals, rather than ones that come from produced & monetized CDs and studio recordings. Ones that are obviously not a source of revenue for the individual.
For those who are lawyers, or knowledgeable about these issues, what would you suggest?