Hello,
As a curiosity, how do you manage the copyright (Sacem, Sabam…) of a mixed music composition (live electronics), when the compiled patch is under GPL license (Cmajor, RNBO, JUCE non-commercial, SuperCollider plugin including algorithmic interactive score + custom DSP, VST3 plugin…)?
Does the compiled patch / virtual score (under the GPL license) take precedence over the copyright of the mixed work?
How do you protect mixed live music scores (especially when algorithmic virtual score is part of the piece identity) ?
Thank you for your answers !
Have a nice day.
Best
Software licenses and copyright are two entirely different things. Three important things:
- you always keep the copyright on your own work; GPL never takes away copyright. In fact, copyright ensures that the GPL can be enforced!
- the GPL only comes into play when you distribute the software
- the output of a GPL licensed program is not affected by the GPL. Examples: a text document written with LibreOffice, a track produced with Ardour, a piece of music created with SC, etc.
Regarding sclang code the situation is a bit vague. Does a .scd file merely serve as input for sclang, or does it form a compound program? Theoretically, if all sclang code had to be GPL, any recipient (e.g. an ensemble) could freely share it under the same license. Again, if you do not distribute the code, the question does not arise in the first place.
Richard Stallman has many articles and conferences (easy to find on YouTube) explaining those differences: copyright, “intellectual property” (meanless term), patent laws, etc