Sunday 31 May 2009
Site for Free Music Scores: IMSLP
While browsing on the web for info about composers, I found a site which provides free music scores: http://imslp.org. Is hosted in Canada. Not sure if this is actually legal - the score sheets are scanned from printed versions, and the pages state "copying prohibited" (which should be a clear instruction to the ones who scanned that page...).
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The IMSLP strives to comply with Canadian copyright law and as such it IS legal. Copyright protection expires after a certain amount of time, in Canada that's 50 years after the death of the author/composer. Once the copyright has expired, there are no legal restrictions on copying anymore. Due to different copyright terms, some of the files may not yet be free to copy in other countries like the US or the EU. IMSLP provides warnings in such cases.
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ReplyDeleteYes, the copyright warnings are clearly posted on the web site of IMSLP. But there might still be an issue, if a page of a publication (the score sheet music) can just be scanned and republished. Google is now facing an uphill legal struggle exactly because of that (with their Google Books service). If a page clearly states "do not copy this page by whatever means" (or similar), and that text is actually also seen on the scanned page, then I cannot help but wonder if then the copying and distribution is legal. I must admit, however, that I am not a legal expert - and maybe that copyright mark is actually the illegal part...