Why you can't find free sheet music online

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Why can't you find free sheet music online of any "modern" hits, movie music, music by your favorite group, etc.?

The answer is simple--copyright law. Almost anything you hear on the radio or that is a "hit" has been written recently--within the past few years, anyway. So that music is still under copyright, and that means that no one but the copyright holder can sell or give away copies of it.

Any web site that tried to give away free sheet music of this sort would be shut down in a millisecond by the music publishing industry.

So--if you want the music to the latest hit, movie theme, etc. etc. etc., *please* don't waste any time poking around on the 'net for it. Just go down to the local music store and BUY IT for $2. Feel happy that your purchase price has gone to support an artist that (obviously) you like.

There are a few sites giving away free sheet music on the internet, but you can guarantee that these sites are either giving away their own music (to which they own the copyright)

or

giving away older music (more than 75 or 100 years old) to which the copyright has expired.

A good place to start looking for free music:

http://www.sunflower.org/~pathetic.spm

--Brent

-- Brent Hugh (bhugh@cstp.umkc.edu), July 27, 1999


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