Is it free software? [LWN.net]

Is it free software?

Posted Feb 23, 2026 17:00 UTC (Mon) by rgmoore (✭ supporter ✭, #75)
In reply to: Is it free software? by Wol
Parent article: The Book of Remind

Take Bach and Beethoven for instance - how much of their work that is commercially available is protected by copyright?

Music is unusual because it has separate copyright for the score and the performance. None of Bach's or Beethoven's original scores are still under copyright, but most of the performances- basically all of the ones using remotely modern recording technology- are still under copyright. So if you want to use Beethoven or Bach for your movie, you could avoid any copyright problems by using the original score (or a very old arrangement) and having it newly performed, either yourself or as a work for hire.

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Is it free software?

Posted Feb 23, 2026 22:14 UTC (Mon) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link] (1 responses)

Don't forget that many modern scores are also under copyright.

So yes, if you find an old-enough score to copy you're safe, but if you go out and buy a score it's quite likely protected. It may not be the notes that are protected, but all the stuff around it, the typesetting, the font, the layout, etc etc.

If a human would have trouble getting all that right, I dread to think what a mess an AI would make of it ...

Cheers,
Wol

Is it free software?

Posted Mar 18, 2026 22:53 UTC (Wed) by sammythesnake (guest, #17693) [Link]

In those cases, it's the score as drawn, rather than the music it is a written form of. I need permission to make a photocopy of the score, but performing the music doesn't convey any element of the score that wasn't in the (public domain) music, so there's no copyright issue making a new recording of it.