2006/10/15, Gregory Maxwell <gmaxwell(a)gmail.com>om>:
How about recordings of out of copyright (i.e.
classical) music? The
only rights holder should be whomever recorded it and whomever they
signed agreements with in order to be permitted to record it. There
are a number of small record labels such as [[Nimbus Records]] as well
as the concert halls themselves which have large libraries of music.
I think this would only be worthwhile as a funded endeavor if it could
land us a truly massive archive which would enable us to illustrate a
majority of our articles on long-dead composers.
Classical music recordings are what I would call the classical
copyright nightmare. It might be possible to get solo pieces under a
free licence, but orchestra pieces... I talked to a Conductor of the
local university orchestra about putting some of their recordings
under a free license. You have to get forty people (the recorders) to
put this under a free licence. The next part is that while the music
is free, orchestras usually rent the notes from some music publishing
company (because it's too expensive to buy a complete set of notes for
every piece). These companies in turn put demands on your use of their
notes, most often fees for commercial use, which would in a way apply
if you put this under the GNU-FDL or CC-by-SA.
Nevertheless, it sounds like a good idea to fund a piano player to
record the major Bach, Beethoven and Mozart piano pieces.
Cheers,
Philipp