May I ask for permission to arrange the music?

[yemaozi88 1]

# Dear moderator, I am posting here because this site https://jwfan.com/?page_id=235 says "For questions about John Williams and his works, we strongly suggest that you post a message o­n our John Williams Forum", but if it is not appropriate, please let me know. 
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Hello, I have a question about the work of John Williams about "Por una Cabeza". 
 
My friend Tomoko - professional pianist and composer, was inspired by the YouTube video of "Por una cabeza " performed by John Williams & Itzhak Perlman and she arranged it with her originality.
As a professional musician, she would like to perform her arrangement at her concerts and on YouTube, also she would like to sell her arrangement on online platforms.
She already contacted Hal Leonard and Alfred Music which published the musical sheet of "Por una cabeza". She would also like to have permission from Mr.John Williams due to his right of "musical arrangement". 
https://www.romanolaw.com/no-you-dont-own-your-arrangement-of-that-hit-song/

Is here a proper place to discuss? If no, can anybody suggest where to contact? 

Thank you very much.

Aki

[The Lost Folio 183]

John Williams did not compose "Por una cabeza", he arranged it, just like your friend did. The piece was originally written by Carlos Gardel, who died in 1935 and whose music, as far as I can tell, is no longer under copyright. If your arrangement is of Gardel's melody, without reference to Williams's particular version, then you do not need permission to arrange the melody.

[yemaozi88 1]

Hi The Lost Folio,

Thank you very much for your reply. 

 

> The piece was originally written by Carlos Gardel, who died in 1935 and whose music, as far as I can tell, is no longer under copyright

 

I understand. My apologies, my explanation was not clear enough.

The YouTube clip that Tomoko referred to is the arrangement of "Por una cabeza" by John Williams. 

Therefore we believe, without his permission Tomoko should not perform / sell her arrangement i.e. an arrangement of the arrangement of John Williams. 

For legal clarification, she is ready to share the music sheet as well as the YouTube video of her arrangement (private). 

 

Do you know how to request permission to arrange his arrangement work? 

 

Aki

[The Lost Folio 183]

22 hours ago, yemaozi88 said:

Do you know how to request permission to arrange his arrangement work?

 

I'm sorry I can't help you there...

[Marc 769]

Unfortunately, I'm afraid it is currently not possible to sell her arrangement.
I used to have all of mine available on Musicnotes, and one day I was notified that they would all be taken down due to the fact that Williams had decided that he only wanted “official” products available on the internet !
This happened in late 2022, the pages for my arrangements are still there but with this mention :
Due to the copyright holders’ request this product is currently unavailable.
https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/display_error.asp?ppn=MN0201542

[GerateWohl 4,371]

On 25/01/2024 at 9:10 PM, yemaozi88 said:

Do you know how to request permission to arrange his arrangement work? 

Excuse me. I have a question. I really don't get this "arrangement of the arrangement" thing. Is it just a transcription of Williams' arrangement? By ear maybe? Then it is not an arrangement but a transcription and of course under Williams' copyright.

Or it is an own arrangement of the Gardel piece. Then it has nothing to do with Williams' work.

But what is an "arrangement of the arrangement"?

I am just curious.

[yemaozi88 1]

@The Lost Folio Thank you very much anyway! 

 

@Marc Nice to hear your experience. It is quite useful information for us. 

> one day I was notified that they would all be taken down due to the fact that Williams had decided that he only wanted “official” products available on the internet !

Did you discuss further with Williams? If you still have the e-mail address who notified you the decision of Williams, could you please share that with us?? 

@GerateWohl 
> By ear maybe? Then it is not an arrangement but a transcription and of course under Williams' copyright.

> Or it is an own arrangement of the Gardel piece. Then it has nothing to do with Williams' work.

She transcribed but added / arranged some part of the music. So this is not the same to Williams' arrangement anymore.  

[karelm 2,914]

"she would like to sell her arrangement on online platforms."  She will not be able to legally sell the arrangement because it is based on a copyright arrangement.  It isn't just about financial benefit but there are many, MANY arrangements of varying quality and legal ownership.  I don't know if the song is public domain but the arrangement she is arranging is certainly not and that arrangement, might not be owned by Williams but the producers who paid for the score.  Sort of like how John Williams technically only owns the writers share of Star Wars but not the score itself, that is Disney (after Lucasfilm) and they are very litigious because their property is highly demanded and frequently stolen.  If I was a gambling man, I would say the odds that she would be able to sell her arrangement legally is zero.  She might be able to give it away to schools for free claiming fair use for educational purposes but even this is risky.  It might fall more in to a class that it's not worth legally pursuing since she doesn't financially profit from it but that is not the scenario you are describing.