Jason Robert Brown Writes for NY Times' 'Theatre Talkback:' Who Owns Sheet Music?

This week, composer Jason Robert Brown wrote an article for the New York Time's "Theater Talkback" section, in which he asked the question: "Who owns sheet music?"

In the article, Brown discusses he and wife Georgia Stitt's battle to raise awareness against the unauthorized trading of sheet music on the Internet. Recently, he posed a blog on his web site which showed his exchanges with a 15-year-old girl named Eleanor.

"What inspired me to publish my exchanges with Eleanor was the sense that teenagers who used these sites genuinely believed there was nothing wrong with passing the music back and forth without ever legally obtaining any copies. I thought that if I posted my little story, which was intended to be gently humorous rather than polemical, maybe some of those teenagers might re-examine that behavior," wrote Brown.

However, the blog post was not received as Brown had hoped- and he began receiving hostile comments.

Brown states, "We can all rationalize stealing in any number of ways, but taking something that doesn't belong to you is theft, and I no longer have any patience with those who want to justify (or worse, ennoble) the taking of what is rightfully mine."

However, Brown points out that you can perform one of his songs anywhere at any time- if you have a good ear and can listen and then play it on the piano- that perform won't cost you anything.

"But you might want to see the sheet music, because it contains an extraordinary amount of information that will allow you to play that song more accurately. That information comes at a cost. (As you can see on my blog, that cost in this case is about four bucks.)" said Brown.
Brown worries that, like CDs, sheet music is becoming endangered.

He ends with, "I realize I'm late getting to the party, but I'm simply amazed that the question even needs to be asked."

To read Brown's full article, click here.

Photo Credit: Peter James Zielinski