OCP:Copyright Permission
  • PaixGioiaAmorPaixGioiaAmor
    Posts: 1,473
    I have some youth who are going to do contemporary music for stations of the cross on Good Friday (it's a devotion, not liturgy, so why not?).

    There is a particular piece of music that I thought the kids would like and the people would sing - as contemporary pieces go, it's at least ... decent, and it happens to be published by OCP. We have Gather Comprehensive in the pews, and we own reprint licenses for WLP and GIA. We just don't use OCP materials very often.

    So I called and asked if we could receive one time permission to reproduce the congregational refrain. I was told that it would cost $25 and that since we used GIA hymnals, they couldn't give us complimentary permission.

    No thanks. Another reason (out of many) to not use OCP. At least GIA GIVES complimentary permission for a specific octavo if you buy legal copies.

    So instead of giving me the permission and me buying 10 copies at $1.50 each ... I am buying nothing and they are making nothing.

    Smart.
  • Adam Bartlett
    Posts: 533
    There is absolutely no future in this business model!
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    What Adam said.
  • Marc Cerisier
    Posts: 517
    There's also the possibility that the contract they have with the composer doesn't give them the right to grant free permission. GIA has always had the free reprint rights for octavos with congregational part. They also own the pieces outright, whereas OCP allows the composers to retain full ownership, and only license the publication of the piece. GIA might have more latitude in what they can offer by virtue of ownership.

    I have OCP, GIA & WLP licenses, and knowing how little each composer makes from those pieces they have published, I go out of my way to make sure every copyrighted text and tune that is used anywhere on campus is reported in a timely manner--regardless of the size or type of the gathering. I've irritated many people with that policy ("But I'm just printing the words!", "It's just for one night.", "I'm only making 8 copies", etc...), but it's the right thing to do. We all have the choice to use copyrighted music or to use music that is either public domain or copyleft. I personally use both, and I don't think it's fair to expect copyrighted music to be given away. If it is, that's great--like the generous permission policy from Liturgical Press for the chants in By Flowing Waters. If not, and what you want to use meets the needs of your parish, it's only fair to pay up.

    That's my 2 cents.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    There is no reason that composers shouldn't be able to deal directly with their markets without a publisher. The old model of being owned and managed by a middle man (publisher) is quickly passing into oblivion. More power to the composers!
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