[Magdalen] All Clear

[Roger Stokes]

On 17/11/2016 21:04, James Oppenheimer-Crawford wrote:
> Well, as a composer, I would say, "By all means DO try to sell her stuff."
>
> It's a really cut throat business. I am in the position of writing in
> styles that are not popular, and so I hesitate to put a price on my work.
> I say that by God's generous grace, I have no need for extra income. So I
> let out my work without charge. Charging just adds a layer of hassle, and
> how much return would I get anyway?
> However, whenever people find music that is free, they tend to assume it's
> junk. There's a lot of junk out there too, as I find often on a couple of
> pages I frequent, so I guess the assumption is understandable.
>
> My medium is notation, not the actual performance.  I'm not getting any
> traction, but I have discovered that I have been performed in Texas and New
> Zealand, and that gives a lot of encouragement.

James,

I agree that not all music which is free is junk. Some years ago a bride 
asked for a particular hymn she had found on the C/E website page about 
preparing for your wedding. It was not covered by our normal copyright 
licence arrangement so I contacted the lyricist for permission to use 
it. She emailed me back giving permission for use on that and any 
subsequent occasion so the order of service included who it was by and 
"used with permission". From memory it was new words to a well-known 
tune rather than a new tune, which can cause massive problems for a 
congregation. In your situation putting it out there with the copyright 
proviso that permission must be sought and acknowledged in the programme 
would seem appropriate.

Roger