Copyrights in ©hristmas Songs
On a recent date night, Kristen and I visited one of our favorite places, Jazz, TX. Jazz, TX is a live music venue in San Antonio, Texas at the Pearl Brewery. It showcases the sounds of South Texas and includes Jazz, Blues, Big Band, Texas Swing, Salsa, and Latin Jazz.
On this particular occasion, we enjoyed Doc Watkins and his orchestra perform Christmas in Jazz. After the excitement of the show wore off, I thought I would share some copyright considerations surrounding Christmas tunes both new and old.
For something new, I turned to Amazon Music’s “Top 100 Most played: Holiday” list. At the top of the list is “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey. The song was written and produced by Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff in 1994. It was recorded and released the same year by Columbia Records. Be aware that there are separate rights associated with the composition (i.e., the written song) and the sound recording that we listen to each holiday season.
I assume that the owners of the composition rights and the sound recording rights have not given either work to the public domain. If my assumption is correct, the song is new enough that the copyrights of both works are still in place.
As a result, if you or your organization wish to perform that song, you will need to obtain permission from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (i.e., ASCAP). By contrast, if you wish to use the sound recording that we listen to and are familiar with, you will need a different type of license based on your intended use. For example, you might want one or more of the following types of licenses:
• Master-Use License: Grants you the right to use a recording of an underlying composition for audio/visual projects, like film, TV, and commercials, among others.
• Synchronization License: Grants you the right to use the composition in audio/visual projects like film, TV, and commercials, among others.
• Mechanical License: Grants you the right to reproduce the composition for the purpose of phonographic sales (i.e. downloads, CDs, vinyl, etc.).
For the something old, consider “Silent Night.” According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the song was first written as a poem in a small Alpine town in the Austrian countryside in 1816. In 1817, the poet, Joseph Mohr, asked his friend, Franz Xaver Gruber, to write the music for his six verses. On Christmas Eve, 1818, the two friends sang “Silent Night” together for the first time in front of Mohr’s church congregation. The popularity of the song grew from there. By 1839, the song made it to New York, where it was performed on Wall Street.
Note, there are at least three distinct works identified in the paragraph above for purposes of copyright law: the poem, the poem accompanied by music, and the English translation (the original lyrics were written in German). Each version is subject to its own set of rights. Given their age, they are now in the public domain, and we are free to perform each of them freely.
However, there have been countless recordings of Silent Night over the years. For example, my favorite song from our recent trip to Jazz, TX, was Doc Watkins’ performance of Silent Night. I was pleased that his version of the song was featured on his Christmas album that we purchased. Although the original poem, the poem accompanied by music, and the English translation from almost 200 years ago are no longer entitled to copyright protection, Doc Watkins’s sound recording is (unless he released it to the public domain).
In short, if you enjoy Christmas music and want to use one or more songs, make sure that you do so safely and without infringing on the rights of others. Although an original composition might be in the public domain, a more recent recording—and even a more recent modernized composition—might not be.
Happy holidays!
