Newspapers / Zebulon Record (Zebulon, N.C.) / June 11, 1937, edition 1 / Page 13
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—— WfidfGoeSOn !n R4DIOT "Ounce (/prevention 77 DepdrtnieHt By Nornian Siegel / "w-w Y permission of the copyright • • LJ owner” comes as close to be- J ing radio’s slogan as anything that’s uttered over the air ways during the 18 hours of the broad casting day. They’re the six most im portant words in radio, for without the things they represent radio would be as drab as the girl who has lost that schoolgirl complexion Radio is made up of words and music, and words and music in many cases are private property. If they are used or distorted without the owner's knowl edge or permission, radio may find the world tumbling about its ears to the tune of a million dollar law suit. Radio doesn’t have these suits be cause the copyright divisions of the ma jor networks and all of their nation wide offsprings are constantly checking everything that’s to be broadcast for possible copyright infringement This department of the radio station is known as the “ounce of prevention” office In its many green card files are records of literary and musical copy rights containing the names of the copyright holders or the people ap pointed to represent them If somebody wants to perform a dra matic sketch or play on the air, he goes to the copyright division If the author of the play in question is a radio writer or a new writer, a contract with him is drawn up for the particular broad cast of the play. The author signs a performing right and the network can go ahead and do the show Then there are radio adaptations of famous books and plays. In these cases the copyright staff gets in touch with the holder of the copyright, be it the author or his publisher Wires pass back and forth. The owner of the copyright decides on a performing fee * for the radio use of his material The network pays it and you hear a drama tization of “Anthony Adverse,” “Pen rod and Sam,” or what have you. on the airwaves. COMETIMES it’s very difficult to dis- cover who owns the copyright to a work. In that case, the Library of Con gress files in Washington are consulted Literary copyrights m this country hold for 56 years—in two periods of 28 years each. If after 28 years the holder of the copyright does not renew, the literary work is “in the public domain.” which means that it is public property and needs no permission for performing rights. JT'V Even “Sweet Adeline.” that gay 'nineties favorite of barber shop and bar. is strictly copyrighted. Recently the copyright division at Co lumbia ran into an interesting point along this line with respect to one of Shakespeare's works. Shakespeare has been dead more than 300 years, so pre sumably his works ought to be “in the public domain.” The Columbia Work shop group wanted to do “Hamlet” and thought the play could easily be cleared for broadcasting But the copyright division, closely examining the script of the famous play, discovered that it was an acting version and had been copyrighted as such by Orson Welles, the actor. Special per mission for the performance had to be obtained from him. Parodies have to be treated with spe cial attention A parody which offends the author of the original work may be liable to a suit for damages The lyrics of a song may not be changed, even so much as a single word, without first consulting the author. Then there are problems like this one. The other day Ruth Draper aired a reading from the book-of-the-vear, “Gone With the Wind.” Permission for straight reading of the passage was ob tain -d But the ever-vigilant copyright department of Columbia went further than that. Ruth Draper, being an expressive reader and a famous mimic, would no • When Gertrude N iesen puts a song on the air, you can be sure that the title to that song has been painstakingly checked beforehand. The photo at top shows Columbia’s copyright division putting in a busy afternoon. * doubt read the passage very dramati cally, changing her voice to suit the va rious characters. So, besides ordinary permission, permission was also pro cured “for dramatic use of nondramatic material.” With respect to music, the work of the people in the copyright division is even more complicated For music is everywhere in radio. Not merely the big musical numbers on which all at tention is concentrated, but the little dribs and drabs—cue music, theme mu sic, a couple of bars here arid there— all has to be cleared and permission for its use obtained TVOT only does the department check on all music used on chain pro grams, but for all programs on local stations throughout the country. In this work they are aided by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, more commonly known as ASCAP ASCAP controls the oopyrlght rights to most modem music. It is an organi zation composed, of music writers and publishers and represents them in all branches of the amusement world. It acts as a huge copyright clearing house and saves the broadcasters the enormous amount of time that would have to be expended in contacting each individual composer. Last year radio paid ASCAP around $3,000,000 for this service. The most familiar numbers, things everybody thinks are public property, are carefully checked by the copyright department, for most of them are still private property “Sweet Adeline,” that old parlor favorite, is strictly copy righted So is “Sidewalks of New York,” sometimes known as “East Side, West Side.” How does the copyright division func tion in this important task of clearing material? The office is equipped with a host of reference books, lists from music publishing associations, musical catalogs and a card file containing in formation on thousands and thousands of works. Each card carries the name of the work, the author, the publisher and the date of copyright. Also any other essential facts connected with the copyright. The division works about three weeks in advance of the program It calls up singers, conductors and piogram direc tors, ascertaining all musical number* and script plans. Each is separately checked.
Zebulon Record (Zebulon, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 11, 1937, edition 1
13
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