song ownership

[stargate]

Is it possible to "buy" a song .....as in could i buy somebodys song after the copywrite runs out ?

[chris-n-vick]

i have never heard of the copyright "running out" on a song?

however it is possible to buy the copyright from the owner of the song as per michael jackson and the catalogue of beatles tracks he famously bought.

[don1]

You could if you lived long enough. see here.

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#hlc

[Scarlett]

Copyright can be bought and sold- if you find someone who will sell it to you!! Most artists rely on their copyrights (royalties) to fund them in their old age.

[jenstar]

You can't buy somebody's song AFTER the copyright runs out, because... well, that's what copyright running out means. It's then in the public domain and copyright no longer applies.

[smorodina]

But you can copyright the arrangement of an out of copyright song. Paul Simon famously did so with 'Scarborough Fair', a traditional song, much to the chagrin of Martin Carthy, from whom he learnt it.

[stargate]

cheers for that ..........any idea how paul simon went about how he did that then ?