[dvd-discuss] Music (Was Re: Public Domain Enhancement Bill)

["Steve Hosgood" <steve(at)caederus.com>]

> On Friday 27 June 2003 18:25, Jeme A Brelin wrote:
> # Disney might (speculatively) control 90% of the existing copyrights on
> # novels, short stories and movies (or whatver), but that's an insignificant
I know it's hardly relevant or new, but just recently D.C.sessions wrote:
> A single CD can now hold all of the possible musical phrases
> (allowing for "legal Hamming distance") so that one could, with
> modest effort, make it legally impossible to produce *any* music
> without infringing the copyright on one of those "works."
> 
> The owner of these priceless copyrights would then be in
> position to hold all music and English writing hostage.
> 

I'd been meaning to ask before, and here's my chance:
Why hasn't some interested activist tried creating an internet database of
all the musical phrases in the works of Handel, J.S.Bach, Scarlatti, Vivaldi,
Mozart, Beethoven and all the other obvious and non-obvious famous composers
of yore whose works are now PD?

I'd guess that such a database would, without chasing obscure composers, be
found to contain all playable musical phrases, thus killing off at a stroke
anyone's silly attempt to copyright any modern music based on musical phrases
alone.

It doesn't seem to have been done though.

Any ideas why not?

--

Steve Hosgood                               |
steve@caederus.com                          | "A good plan today is better
Phone: +44 1792 203707 + ask for Steve      |   than a perfect plan tomorrow"
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