Why was my post deleted?

[3dc]

Why was my perfectly valid question about copyrights deleted? 

Just asking....

[EileenL]

If I remember your question it was could you record songs on a Yamaha Keyboard and then perform and sell them. The answer is yes but you will probably need to apply for a performers licence which will covers things like royalties to the music you use .
  Yamaha's copyright covers things like sharing or selling there
styles , voices, and Demo songs. You buy the right to use them only for yourself when you purchase a keyboard. This dose not only apply to Yamaha keyboards.

[3dc]

The Yamaha SPR-E463 manual on page 7 says that:

You are allowed to distribute medium in which your performance or music production using these contents is recorded, and the permission or Yamaha Corporation is not required in such cases.

So I just wanted to clarify with you professionals if I can produce my own music for 3D animated film using voices, sounds and grooves in the keyboard. Can I make a soundtrack CD and sell it or not? I just wanted to be sure I am not breaking any laws. I didn't ask if I can sell proprietary Yamaha data. 

@ EileenL unfortunately I never heard of performers licence nor I can find anything about it on Google.

[Gunnar Jonny]

....unfortunately I never heard of performers licence nor I can find anything about it on Google.

I did post two links in your original thread that's deleted. Those pointed to Yamaha regarding copyrights. (Reasons for delete the thread, only the one who did it can answer.)
However, to produce stuff of your own, using the keyboard and what it offer to use, cannot be illegal. Just look at Yamaha's own Genos demos, they urge you to be creative and produce.
Besides of that, who can actually use any styles or sounds used to record songs at a CD on other keyboards? Well, Wersi can playback DC's. 😊 
It's when we share, sell and spread copyrighted software, styles or whatever it is for others to use the trouble regarding copyrights may occur ..... and, believe it or not, it can in worst cases be a high cost risk. 🤑

📝 Some years ago, Yamaha representatives (lawyers?) was active at fora to prevent massive sharing. Myself I got threats via local authorities because of converted styles at my website. My defence and reply to the mail was that I only had raw converted 'onboardstyles' from different brands downloadable. Stuff that did not steal the bread from anyone. Never heard anything after that reply.

[SciNote]

I am not a lawyer, so take my interpretation as just speculation, but here is my interpretation...

I think what Eileen is referring to is if you made an album of you playing songs originally done by other artists (like the Beatles, Olivia Newton John, or Enya) and wanted to sell that album.  Since you would be covering other artists' copyrighted songs, then you would need to go through various proper channels to get permission to sell or even publicly play such an album because those other artists hold the copyrights to those songs, and that would be the case no matter what keyboard or musical instrument you use to record them.

But I think your question involves using the styles in Yamaha's keyboards as part of your OWN ORIGINAL songs, and as the excerpt of the owner's manual implies, I do believe that is fine, as long as you are using the style along with your own original material.

So, if you write an original song and record it on a Yamaha keyboard using a Yamaha style just for the background while you supply your own original melody, that should be fine.

But if you were to try to sell or distribute just the style itself, that would be a problem.  And I would imagine that if you recorded a song that was nothing more than a recording of you playing different chords of a Yamaha style without adding any original content or melody of your own and then tried to sell or distribute it, that could also be a problem.

Again, this is just my interpretation, and I would still do further research with someone more familiar with the subject -- or even try contacting Yamaha and asking them directly.

[VilleGuy]

I have experience working in the music industry, but I am not a lawyer, so keep both facts in mind when you read this (smile). Also, I'm probably telling you more than you want to know, but some may enjoy this.

You don't need to get permission to record or release a song that someone else has written and copyrighted. However, if you issue a recording of someone's song (or of your own, for that matter), the organizations that collect revenues for music must be alerted so they can track income and see that it is distributed to the proper parties.

There are two main categories of income from music performance: airplay (radio, TV, concerts, etc.) and sales (CD, albums, downloads, etc.). BMI, ASCAP and SESAC collect royalties for airplay, and other organizations collect it for sales and downloads (that gets a bit confusing, so I won't elaborate).

Once these groups collect royalties, they distribute it to songwriters, music publishers and record labels accordingly.

Note that the "musicians" who played on the above music are not included in the payment streams. They are paid for their work on the recording sessions and do not share in royalties. If someone wonders whether using Yamaha arranger song styles or parts of song styles in a new recording obligates them to pay royalties for these sounds, my guess (remember, I'm not a lawyer) is that these styles can be used without needing to pay Yamaha or whoever created the style.

You can copyright a lyric or a melody, and you can copyright a lyric combined with a melody, but you can't copyright the "feeling" that a style provides as a background while you create a new song or record your version of someone else's song.

On top of that, when you import a style to your arranger keyboard, in a great majority of cases thyere are tiny alterations made, for voices, etc., and it can be argued that a new style is created in that sense.

Hope this sheds a little light on things.

[Joe H]

If you produce original music with your arranger keyboard (using Yamaha styles) Yamaha says its OK (even a hit recording).  You won't need to pay royalties.

Joe H