[Tango-L] About music composer copyright

[kace ong]

Recent posts about the musicians at the Festival Tango got me thinking
about the subject of music copyright outside Argentina, and whether any
of the fees we paid to our national copyright collector ever got to the the
rightful recipients.

As regular organisers of milongas, we are obviously the target of copyright
agencies (whether or not they actually represent the music we use), but
this is a kind of legalized extortion/annoyance that is practised 
everywhere.

If I understand it correctly, the disbursement of fees is based on sampling
of radio airplay and not actual use.  Since there is zero airplay of tango
in our country, this means that almost all money collected will end up
in the pockets of American companies instead of Argentina.

I am also interested to know if there is a registry of copyright-expired and
public domain compositions anywhere?  This could be a great resource
for those involved in making tango videos, promotional clips and flegling
bands starting out.

Kace