Monday, December 18, 2006

Complete Mozart Works Now Free - Really?

Mozart's year-long 250th birthday party is ending on a high note with the musical scores of his complete works available for the first time free on the Internet.

Although most classical music is obviously too old to be under copyright, the rights to specific editions of pieces are owned by the publishers.

Now, the International Mozart Foundation has acquired the right to publish the prestigious New Mozart Edition of every Mozart work on the internet. The response has been so overwhelming that the Foundation has been forced to increase their server capacity.

But, what they have put up is hardly "free", read the term you have to accept: "I agree to use this web site only for personal study and not to make copies except for my personal use under "Fair Use" principles of Copyright law as defined in this license agreement." Well, you already could copy the music under those principles before.

This is not how music should be treated 200 years after a composer's death, in particular in the age of the Internet.

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