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Page 6 InCider Press January 2008 |
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Loren Alexander accepted the tedious, and sometimes confusing part of this process to get the license for duplicating the learning aids, after he had recorded the Chorus singing them. In past years, we have generally purchased learning tracks from the Society, or used a recording that was already produced by another Barbershop group (FOR WHICH WE PAID THE SOCIETY/AND OR THE HARRY FOX AGENCY TO COVER THE COPYRIGHT FEES). By recording our Chorus, we now have the advantage that we will more closely have Ken's interpretation and changes for you to practice as you sing along with the tape or CD. Having worked for K-State Research and Extension on campus for 26 years, I was familiar with KKSU (formerly KSAC where past member Dev Nelson worked), and knew of their capability to produce and mass duplicate CD's and cassettes, as they are used by many Extension faculty now in teaching packages. They have been producing and duplicating our learning aids for the past 3 years now. Larry Jackson, KKSU radio manager, is the person who makes all this happen. I gave him a sheet of instructions with the two master CD's that Loren had made when he recorded the Chorus at rehearsals. Larry takes that and puts them in the order we requested, sets up the copy for the label to be printed on the front of the CD, presses a button, and walla--out comes 64 copies in a matter of a few minutes. It is a similar, but little longer process to make and duplicate the cassette tapes. We made 64 of the learning CD's and six members requested tapes. The CD's were available for pick-up at Chapter last week, January 10, and the tapes will be ready this week, January 17.The Board asks that you get one and throw in $2 to help defray the costs. Most members have found that singing along to these learning aids is very helpful to learn the words and music of our show songs.♪ |
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Learning CD’s By Steve Fisher |
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It’s easier and easier to get copyright clearance, and more and more important to do so! A few weeks ago Ken Lang asked me to record a couple of our songs for the Spring Show 2008, so I brought my mini-disc digital recorder to give it a try. We recorded two songs, then I made a compact disc at KSU, sent it to Ken, and he found the quality good enough for our purposes. Then someone, probably a Board member, asked me to get copies made for all of you -- I had no clue. We now had seven songs recorded. After several calls I finally found out that Steve Fisher made the very helpful CDs we used to practice for one of our recent shows, and he agreed to help me. Finally, I did the rational thing and followed Harvey Kiser’s advice to contact the folks at BHS, and to get on the Internet and check in with the Harry Fox Agency. Whew! The BHS specialist answered several questions, and Harry Fox Agency has a large site with a lot of information and an easy procedure for gaining copyright clearance. Here’s what I know, which may help others who wish to get copyright clearance. 1) Each one of us can make our own recordings of rehearsals anytime for our own use with any device. We may not make copies for anyone else without clearance (or else it gets very expensive if the owner takes you to court). 2) The Harry Fox Agency recently lowered the minimum number of copies we need to cover for clearance to only 25 (from 2,500 earlier and then later 250). The cost comes to 9.1 cents per copy plus a processing fee of around $15.00 for each song (check their site for details). 3) The Barbershop Harmony Society person to contact for help, Cathy Watson, answers the phone readily and answers our questions immediately or after consultation with others (except during December holidays vacation time, when I called, and the office was closed). See the back pages of The Harmonizer for contact information. I signed up and paid for the copyright costs for six of the seven songs on the CD you got in January (Joe Liles waived the fee for his song, Teach The Children!). After sending a copy of the receipt to Bill Bunyan, our Treasurer, he paid me back right away. Now I find it easy to do this, and find it less expensive than I thought. Steve will explain the procedure he followed for making multiple CDs. We have some cost for that, too. In the next BH101 session February 21 I’ll have more detail about copyright procedure, and I’ll entertain questions and experiences you’ve had with this. ♪ |
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GETTING COPYRIGHT CLEANCE By Loren Alexander |