IMSLP Forums

I was uploading some pieces of mine earlier, and I had trouble with the "File/Image type" field.

My complaint was that, some of my music is handwritten, but I can't select "Manuscript" because it needs to be a public domain file, and mine aren't (they are released under a CC by-sa 3.0 license). Also, if I choose "New Composition", that does not give any information whatsoever with regards to the nature of the file. What's more, in 50 years time, it won't be a "new composition" anymore. It seems like that option in the field is the one that is not related to the others (like that puzzle, where you are given 4 words and you have to cross out the word that doesn't fit in the group).

Is it possible to un-chain the Manuscript filetype option from the license under which the file is published? Or, at least, have a "New Composition (manuscript)" and "New Composition (typeset)" option available, although still that would prove to be problematic in case a composer who has had some of his works published wants to upload a score of his on IMSLP, as then a new option would have to be added, "New Composition (scans)", which would be a bit nonsensical, I think (i.e. to have three choices for "old" music, and three identical choices for "new" music - as what is 'new' and what is 'old' changes all the time, and when IMSLP increases further in size with the addition of evermore contemporary and modern composers, it will be problematic to retroactively change all the files)

The problem is that we're mixing a format in which a work is done (manuscript vs. engraving - or typeset, whether done by a hand process or a computer) with the potential copyright status of a given work (New Composition - despite there being plenty of older compositions which are still under copyright). You should probably use "New Composition" regardless of whether you wrote the work out by hand (manuscript) or used Finale, since (even though it will be no longer new at some point), it still falls under the realm of copyright worldwide. Typesets or engravings, by themselves, are not protectable in many places, although an editing is. Another aspect is keeping the upload process simple so that you don't have to be a copyright attorney to understand what kind of work is possible to make a copyright claim on (even under one of the generous CC licenses).

What about a "New Composition: [ ]" checkbox, and the File/Image Type options remaining the same? (without "New Composition") This way, the work could be tagged as a New composition (whatever that implies - i.e. different copyright status tags, different categories etc) but people would also be free to choose whether the type of the score uploaded is a typeset, a scan, or a manuscript. Do you think that would be feasible and/or solve some of those problems, at least in the short run? Maybe the tag assigned to any particular works as "New Compositions" could be coupled with a script which would check how much time has passed since the composer's death, and after X years the tag would automatically be removed, as the work wouldn't be considered "new" anymore. But that's a step too far - what about just the checkbox, is that easy to do?

I'm going to agree with that.
New composition, however, I think is unneseccary (I know, )
However we might put something in saying that the user should put a message on the composer category's talk page that they are or have permission etc.

I think that's a pretty good idea also. Another improvement I'd like to see (since we're on the subject) would be for New Compositions (or whatever we end up calling works eligible for a full copyright term) to default to the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial license. That way, we can hopefully minimize the wild Ebay sellers who copy works from this site and re-sell them. There's nothing wrong with them re-selling P.D. works, or works where the copyright owner has knowingly released them under the simple attribution (only) license - which permits commercial use for free. I'm thinking here of the unpleasant surprise one of our living composers experienced in seeing his works offered for sale on Ebay in a DVD collection of "The World's Greatest Ultimate Super-size Collection of Music for Bassoon and Piano" or a similar title.

If the work is released under a non-commercial or share-alike version of the CC license, they can't actually sell them (though they possibly could offer them as a "free bonus CD" with any purchase).

Sounds good. Besides, it's always better to be on the safe side with these things, rather than find out that lots of people have had their scores sold on ebay because they forgot to change the default, or any other reason.

In terms of actual coding, is it something that requires special privilages/access, or is it something anyone can do? I don't know how to do it myself, but if someone who knows that kind of stuff could do it some time soon, it would be great

Just for the record, the person who was trying to sell my compositions on a DVD on eBay was doing so despite the fact that I had duly coded the uploads of those scores for non-derivative, non-commercial use.

That is annoying - have you contacted them and stuff? Ironically, I googled your name and "score music", and a DVD came up which includes the following line along its contents:

Neff, Lyle K. - 3 Memories for Bassoon and Piano - full score and part include title pg n cc notice

So they've literally just copied the thing, including the fact that there is a CC notice and they shouldn't be copying it in the first place..

Uh oh. Are you saying it's still online, or is it just a cached search result?

The fact that Lyle has carefully tagged his works non-commercial enabled us to make a complaint to Ebay which was taken seriously. As far as I can tell, the seller in question is no longer offering any new works on his CDs. (I plan to check up on him from time to time just to see if he keeps his promise.)

That person had more than my bassoon piece. He had other DVDs ready to sell with my horn music, organ pieces, pretty much anything that was tagged to go into one of the "lists" on IMSLP ("Music for bassoon," etc.). I think he just extracted whatever was on those lists, because some of my other pieces, that aren't tagged liek that, were left alone.