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veltzer / openbook

OpenBook is an open source Jazz real book
https://veltzer.github.io/openbook/
GNU General Public License v3.0
275 stars 41 forks source link

Legal status #90

Closed matze closed 9 years ago

matze commented 9 years ago

This looks like a great project with a lot of potential. I am also a big believer in free software and the open source ideals but

I did not want to pay for the overly expensive real or fake books out there.

and

Jazz is a prime example of a free type of art so it's conjunction with free software seems a match made in heaven.

are not good arguments to publish copyrighted music. IANAL but making the melodies of tunes available to the general public without proper licensing is probably a bad idea. So my question is, what is the legal status here? Can I savely fork from your repository and contribute without fearing legal problems myself?

veltzer commented 9 years ago

I really don't know. If you have concerns, don't fork and don't contribute. My own feeling is that this course of action is letting the bullies like the record labels and the publishing companies intimidate you. I don't care about these issues because I do not believe in copyright after death or after large periods of time - and all tunes in the book are one or both. But damn me if legal concerns will stop me playing music or doing this project. And of course I do not believe that the record labels or publishing companies can keep charging licensing fees forever or even hold the copyright forever. This is no less than absurd.