The IMSLP, the orchestral equivalent to the CPDL, has finally reopened. This is a great place to get full scores of orchestral music which are old enough to be in the public domain.
If you're just joining us, the IMSLP has been shut down for most of a year since European publisher Universal Edition sent them a takedown letter (.doc) on the basis that the duration of European copyright is much longer than those in Canada, where IMSLP is located, and thus some pieces on the site were still protected. This conflict of durations (and other differences in international copyright laws) has never been addressed. Nor does the IMSLP site explain what agreement they came to with UE. The site does state clearly that they believe that only Canadian PD laws apply to them, although they're encouraging tagging entries with various indicators of which countries still might recognize copyright on the pieces in their library, since downloaders might be subject to prosecution.
The re-opening letter from site creator Edward Guo has an appeal to publishers to consider free-download sites to be partners in the dissemination of music, since performance royalties are a larger source of income than sheet music sales. Just like the RIAA, music publishers are going to be resistant to this idea, but just like certain bands, certain composers might go along with this idea.
P.S. They're also changing their name to Petrucci Music Library, much more sexy than International Music Score Library Project.
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