...In the Catholic Church in the English-speaking world, in contrast [to the Anglican Church], the publishers and agencies in charge of texts have used national laws to restrict them and charge for the right to print them and record them, which has put a serious crimp on musical composition and publishing, effectively creating profitable monopolies for a few....
Now, in what seems to be a new policy, ICEL [International Commission on English in the Liturgy] has been kind enough to permit its texts to be posted online with no charge. This is an exception made for “non-commercial distribution.” That’s fine, and more than [GIA Publications] is likely to allow with its upcoming Psalm monopoly, about which more in a bit....
The problem here is of course ICEL, which asserts this right, with the permission of the USCCB [U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops]. When you start talking to people at ICEL about this subject, they quickly point out that they don’t like this policy anymore than you and I do. It is not something that they necessarily favor or support. They are only there to enforce it on behalf of their bosses at the USCCB, which insists on royalties....
Now to the matter of the Grail Psalms that have been approved by the USCCB for Mass. The administrator of the rights here is currently Harper/Collins in the UK and GIA in the United States....[T]hey will soon own the legal monopoly on the Psalms of David that we sing at Mass, and be in a position to charge whatever royalties they deem fair or just or suitable. Never mind that these texts have been translated thousands of times in the course of 500 years and there isn't really any newly copyrightable material here....
What I find most striking is what has come to my attention lately on this subject, namely that some of these monopolists say that charging royalties on the texts is made necessary because they have to pay royalties to ICEL. They regard their current fees as nothing but compensatory and thereby potentially dispensable. If ICEL would give up its state-enforced legal monopoly on the texts, they too would relent and give all the texts away for commercial or non-commercial use.
Now, if this is true, and perhaps this is just an excuse but let’s take them at their word, all of this amazing mess could be solved by a very simple action: ICEL should free the texts....
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
