Indeed - the legal notion of a "performing right" is a fairly new concept - for instance in was only implemented in EU law in sthg like 1999 (?)... it was precisely because you had numerous hit records where session musicians had received a one-off fee in 1969 or whatever, and the recording had gone on to generate literally millions of pounds in royalties for the songwriters and owners of the sound recording.
It was decided that this just wasn't fair, and people such as the tambourine player on Gloria Gaynor's "I will survive" finally got some royalties in the end :)
Whether or not this has been extended to mellotron sessionists I do not know...
--- In newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com, john barrick <astroboy@...> wrote:
>
> Thanks, Fritz. That's the kind of input I was hoping to prompt. Work
> for hire contracts have changed quite a bit in the last 30 years. In
> other industries it used to literally be that you signed away your
> rights when you endorsed the back of the check for deposit. No matter
> what standard practices are now, it would seem that a musician
> delivering the standard 35 eight second notes for a Mellotron tape set
> session would have to grant rights in perpetuity - any attempt at
> tracking performance and residual payment would seem to me to be nigh
> impossible, which I think is what you stated.
> jb
>
>
> fdoddy@... wrote:
> >
> >
> > Not necessarily true. Accepting a paycheck does not automatically
> > relinquish one's rights to future earnings from a recorded
> > performance. The type of work must be agreed upon first. "Work for
> > hire", which is probably the description of most if not all mellotron
> > recordings would typify a buyout in perpetuity of the performance.
> > Residual payment can be for the performance of a piece as well as the
> > intellectual property.
> >
> >
> > fd
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: john barrick <astroboy@...>
> > To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
> > Sent: Thu, 21 May 2009 9:10 pm
> > Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] Rights of Original Mellotron Musicians
> >
> > David - I know nothing, so what better subject for me to chime in on. I
> >
> > assume that all rights and claims were relinquished when they accepted a
> >
> > paycheck for the sessions.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > djacques wrote:
> >
> > >
> >
> > >
> >
> > > I am sure that this must have been discussed, but I am curious what
> >
> > > rights the original Mellotron musicians have/had when they recorded
> >
> > > the original tapes. I also wonder about sections of popular music that
> >
> > > used actual Mellotron performances (like the beginning Spanish guit
> > ar
> >
> > > run in Bungalow Bill). The guitarist who performed this could say that
> >
> > > he/she performed on a Beatles song! This is obviously a different
> >
> > > story than the violinist who played one note for 8 seconds. I would
> >
> > > not expect these musicians to get credit for the Moody Blues or
> >
> > > Crimson songs⦠Where is the line drawn?
> >
> > >
> >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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