Dinah Shore show Nov 9, 1958

[Phil Nelson]

My son has had some dealings with tiny companies that put out obscure DVDs, and learned that copyrights get extra messy when a movie or show includes a musical number.

To you and me, it's Dinah singing a song. But her production company probably paid the composer a royalty for that performance in a single broadcast. Fine, but did their permission from the songwriter also include the right to sell reproductions of the performance in any medium for perpetuity? If not, does a valid copyright still exist for that song, and in that case, who the heck owns the song rights and what is their price for us to re-use it?

Now, imagine a full episode of a variety show with a couple of celebrity guests and, say, three or four musical numbers by different composers. Yech, I'm getting a headache already -- enough with this crummy DVD business

Phil Nelson