Why do I have to pay to use classical music – if the composer is dead, isn the music copyright free?
There are always two copyrights in a music recording: One in the composition, and one in the recording. When a composer has been dead for 75 years, the copyright in the composition goes away. After that, anybody can make their own arrangement and recording of that music, without paying anybody any royalties. If you hire an orchestra and record your own recording of a piece of music by Beethoven, then you get the copyright in that recording. Other people cannot take your recording and use it without your permission. In our case, we have contracts with two different companies that have invested a large amount of time and money to arrange their own versions of the classical music pieces. They have paid hundreds of musicians to play, and hundreds of hours in professional recording studios and recording halls. Now, they own the copyright in the recordings that they have created. We have a contract with these companies, allowing us to sell the music on our site, and pay them half of the mone
