Recording - October 2011 - 70

Continued from page 69 domain. “Little Drummer Boy” is not public domain. “Happy Birthday” is not public domain. Last time I’m calling you and singin’ that over the phone… [She laughs.] Those sisters [who wrote it], did a good job. The publisher is very happy. In the United States, something is protected, the copyright is protected. Public domain comes in two ways: in the master and in the composition. Thanks to Disney, a lot of masters can stay copyright protected for years. But, in terms of music, typically, it’s public domain as a result of composition. So…you’ve written a composition, it will be copyright protected. It will be yours for your entire life, and then 70 years after your death. And that’s in the United States. Every country has its own rules. So, say for example, France, and I think, it’s Spain, they actually add 75 years, and then they actually add 14 more years for the world wars. So it’s like 70-75 years, plus 14, that your work will be protected. Once that amount of time has expired, then it goes into the public domain, which means it becomes the property of the world and anybody can make a recording of the song without having to pay for it. So that’s public domain. It’s tricky because from time to time countries like Mexico—which boggles my mind, because they don’t really protect copyrights down there on a practical basis. That’s alright. They laugh at us for not protecting our borders. [laughter] Funny thing. There was a flurry of activity about six months ago because, thanks to Google, somebody was Googling a piece of music and it showed up copyright protected in Mexico. Before Google, I don’t know how we figured out these things. And the funny thing was like six months ago, it was like, “Oh, this law was passed in 2003, so how are we just now finding out about it.” So what Mexico did was extend their copyrights to 100 years. So that means even if your public domain in the United States, you have to pay the Mexican PROs if you want to air it in Mexico, because now that song that could have been public domain in the United States is no longer public domain in Mexico. So it’s a bit tricky, and this usually comes in with Christmas songs, classical pieces, and children’s songs—nursery rhymes, that sort of thing. So if you’re gonna submit something that’s public domain, be sure you know who the composer was and when he died…’cause I’m gonna ask that. [laughter]
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She’s also going to ask you if your stuff was a union recording, had anything to do with the AFofM. Here’s why: Many of our members will go to online production companies, or will go to Nashville production companies—like Nashville Demo Studio out in the hallway, or Studio Pros. I know that both of those companies don’t present this problem for you. But if you use union players… like, if you go to Nashville, because that’s a really strong union town—and I’m not saying anything positively or negatively, I’m remaining neutral on the subject of unions. However, be aware that if you use union guys on a demo scale for something than you submit to TAXI, then we submit it to Tanvi, she’s gonna ask you, “Do have any union people on this, and what scale were they paid?” Because if they were paid demo rate and she puts it in a major motion picture, and the bass player is sitting in the theater with his wife and goes, “Honey, I played on that, and I got paid demo scale.” There is hell to pay for that, right? Yes. Did I explain it correctly? You did. No pros or cons to the unions at all. It is what it is. For film and TV—especially television—they will not license tracks that are union. And if they do, it is your responsibility to pay those union fees. Here’s how it works: You’re in Nashville and you go into the studio. You’ve hired a bunch of session players, you’ve paid them union for your recording of a thousand CDs. You got a really great rate, more power to you. You’ve got the best players in town and you can put out a thousand CDs. OK, what happens when you decide to put that on to television? There’s something called the new-use fee. You paid for the session players to play on your record for a thousand CDs; you did not pay them to have song aired on televi-

session in 1963.” So, no, just because the players have died, it doesn’t mean that you don’t owe it. You still owe it and I will make you pay for it. But in certain situations the independent artist doesn’t have any money, so then, who has to pay for it? The studio’s not going to pay for it, and the independent artist is poor and broke and trying to pay his bills, I pay for it. And if I pay for it, I’m dropping you. And the studio or the music supervisor if they ever see your name again ever in their lifetime— it may not come through you, but through somebody else—they’re never gonna touch that writer again. So there are pros and cons to working with unions. It all just depends on how you want to structure your music, and how you want to exploit it. I think we’ve covered most of the biggies, so let’s take some audience questions and I want to start with the gentleman out there who had his hand up first. Come out to the center aisle, please. Audience Member: My husband and I are both union players. We’re both coming off of careers as professional side players, now doing an independent project. At this point we are the sum total of the Panache Orchestra, but we’ve got bartering agreements with other really expensive union session players to record on each other albums and stuff. And now with the remark about not using union players in music that can be placed, so for the purposes of what we’re doing as indie artists building a fan base with radio play, that’s OK. But that would make our music 100% useless in terms of getting placed in TV and film? Tanvi: Well, you actually have to file the paperwork for the session. So if you file the paperwork with the AFofM—and you paid the AFofM to pay your players—that is what is key. So whatever side agreement you have with your friends and you pay them out of your pocket, that is—shall I say—OK. It has to be filed with the union to make it ineffectual for film and television. I think the solution of the whole issue… I don’t want to tell anybody not to use union players. I think the union needs to update its stuff for where we are at in modern times with film and TV placements. With the proliferation of independent artists, it’s a little outdated. It really is. I would love to see union players be able to get those gigs and not have this be an issue. It needs an update. Audience Member: In regards to union Continued on page 73

“If you’re gonna submit something that’s public domain, be sure you know who the composer was and when he died…’cause I’m gonna ask that.” —Tanvi Patel
sion. So now there’s a little thing that comes into play called the new-use fee that the studio is obligated to pay. In my agreements with the studio, that means I’m obligated to pay. And in my agreements with you, that means you’re obligated to pay. Here’s a perfect example. We had bit the bullet on a recording. The fee was only $2,500 that we got for the use. The bill from the union came in at $13,000. Now, who’s responsible for that? I’m not gonna be very happy if I get a call from a studio that says, “You told us there wasn’t any union, and we just got this bill from a
Recording - October 2011

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