Copyright
As a music or speech and drama teacher, you have a professional responsibility to ensure that both you and your students are acquainted with the Copyright law as it affects the use of printed music or the written word.
To make it easy for teachers and other users of print music to obtain an easy grasp of this subject, AMCOS (the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society) has produced a booklet entitled A Practical Copyright Guide to the Use of Print Music in Australia. A second edition of this publication was produced in 2001. It was written in response to a demand from musicians and teachers to have an easy to read guide to copyright, to assist users to better understand copyright issues as they affect the practical day to day use of print music in Australia.
The guide is written in non-legalistic, question and answer format. The questions themselves were compiled from a survey of musicians and teachers who were asked to submit questions relevant to their circumstances for inclusion in the document. As a result, a very wide range of practical questions was received. The answers to all these questions are presented in the Practical Copyright Guide. Here are a few examples:
- How do I obtain a copy of an out-of-print piece of music?
- Can I go to the library and photocopy music?
- How do I obtain permission to make an arrangement of a piece of music?
- Can I make a photocopy for a difficult page turn?
- Am I allowed to make a photocopy for an examiner (if this is required for an exam)?
- Am I potentially liable for copyright infringements if my student borrows my music and photocopies it?
Copies of the Guide are available free from the AMEB (NSW) office or from AMCOS.
Contact AMCOS on (02) 9935 7700 for a free copy or visit the AMCOS Web site.