Re: [pygame] are individual midi instruments sounds copyrighted

[Luke Paireepinart <rabidpoobear@xxxxxxxxx>]

I don't agree with your interpretation. I think they are referring to prerecorded songs in the bundled software or the songs that come on the piano. Seriously, it doesn't make sense at all from a profit standpoint fir a company to enforce a copyright like that, if they even could. No one would buy their product then. What about the 808 electronic drum machine? Its samples are in hundreds of thousands of songs. I think you can reasonably assume you are able to use the samples and I think any sane person would agree. IANAL.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 18, 2010, at 7:32 AM, Mel Collins <mel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> As I read it, the linked midiloops.com page is not actually relevant
> in your situation. It talks about the MIDI files, which really only
> describe the composition. You say yourself that it is your own musical
> composition, which means that the copyright belongs to you.
> _However_, there may still be a copyright issue with using the audio
> samples which your keyboard outputs - those will most likely be
> copyrighted by the manufacturer (ie. Yamaha). I would strongly suggest
> that you read through the small-print sections of the keyboard's
> manual, specifically the copyright section (you may be able to find
> the relevant PDF on the yamaha.com site).
> For example, I found this online, for the Yamaha PSR-E413:
> 
>> This product incorporates and bundles computer programs and contents in which
>> Yamaha owns copyrights or with respect to which it has license to use othersâ
>> copyrights. Such copyrighted materials include, without limitation, all computer
>> software, style files, MIDI files, WAVE data, musical scores and sound recordings.
>> Any unauthorized use of such programs and contents outside of personal use is
>> not permitted under relevant laws. Any violation of copyright has legal
>> consequences. DONâT MAKE, DISTRIBUTE OR USE ILLEGAL COPIES.
>> 
>> Copying of the commercially available musical data including but not limited to
>> MIDI data and/or audio data is strictly prohibited except for your personal use.
> 
> If your keyboard's manual says something like that ("WAVE data" is
> the relevant part in this case), then your recording from the
> keyboard's audio-out would indeed be infringing copyright if you
> distributed it.
> 
> I would say that your best bet (if you don't want to try negotiating
> a licence!) is to just take your MIDI composition and record it using
> some libre instrument samples. I know there are several sources for
> such online.
> 
> - Mel C
> (IANACLBIPOOTI)