30 Oct
2017
30 Oct
'17
11:48 a.m.
Hi Emily-
I’m the curator of the SPUDS online tune library - I’m so happy to hear other groups find
our site useful! It’s my policy to ask composers (if known) if we have permission to post
their tunes. Some, like Bob McQuillen, gave us free reign to arrange them how we wish and
freely post any of their tunes. Others prefer only certain tunes or ask that we include
contact and licensing information. Beware that trad tunes aren’t necessarily exempt. Some
people are very proprietary about their arrangements. I removed a version of a traditional
tune from one of my sites because a musician recognized his arrangement and wanted credit.
I didn’t get it from his book, but also didn’t want the hassle, so it was easier to simply
take it down and use a different version.
If there are a hundred versions of a tune online already, I generally don’t get too
anxious about reposting. If there are none or maybe one, I definitely ask. You can’t
assume that because one site has posted them, that it’s ok for you to do the same. Some
groups, like Princeton, avoid copyright problems by password-protecting access to their
files so only group members can use them. They still ask composers if it’s ok to post,
though.
From the composer side - I’ve had people post some of my compositions and the only time I
get annoyed is when they don’t include my name or try to sell them. (Yes that really
happened). But I make most of my tunes freely available online anyway and I’m not trying
to make a living as a musician.
Hope this is helpful,
Sarah
https://www.thursdaycontra.com/~spuds/TuneLinks.html
On Oct 30, 2017, at 10:49 AM, Emily Addison via
Musicians <musicians(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Hi All,
A question for you about general etiquette on posting recently composed tunes (as in last
20-30yrs).
I've seen MANY MANY recently composed tunes online through websites like The Session
but also contra websites too. Often these are posted by someone other than the composer
and it's not listed as to whether they have permission to post.
Here in Ottawa, our community band (we're not pros and play almost all our gigs for
free.), we're working on learning a varied contra music repertoire for dancing. In
fact, our community band is called 'Stolen Goods' as we're about learning from
others.
I've been thinking that it would be nice to post our sets online as part of the wider
sharing so that others can benefit... just like we've benefited from looking at what
others (like SPUDS) have posted.
What's the etiquette here?
For instance, we play a handful of Keith Murphy tunes and he's got books. And we
have Larry Unger and others too...
If we post a few is that ok? Seems that's what others do, especially in irish and
quebecois traditions but I'm just not sure as some of the contra musicians have tune
books. Could refer to a few tune books.
Also, we've written out a few sets from other bands (e.g., one from Wild Asparagus)
as we're trying to learn from their groove/chord lines etc. and we are just a local
learning band that plays for 20 dancers. If we only have 1-2 from a particular band, are
those ok to post?
Looking for your thoughts!
By no means do I need to post of course... ... .just interested in giving back to the
wider community what we've been learning over the last number of years.
With thanks :)
Emily Addison in Ottawa
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