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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon" data-source="post: 605386" data-attributes="member: 1571">Hi JoolsPhew, Fridays eh?I think pretty much every music draws on ideas that have gone before, not just jazz, blues etc. I mean, don't all Kenny G tunes sound the same? (esp hit an all-time low on that What a wonderful world duets album he did)  <img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%2064%2064%22%3E%3Ctext%20x%3D%2250%25%22%20y%3D%2250%25%22%20text-anchor%3D%22middle%22%20dominant-baseline%3D%22central%22%20font-size%3D%2254%22%3E%F0%9F%98%89%3C%2Ftext%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="22" height="22" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />But if Kenny feels that he 'owns' the pentatonic licks he plays, then that's fine. Sly Hooter, gigging saxist, will still get asked to play a Kenny G tune during his evening gig and he'll oblige (probably) with one of Kenny's trademark runs involving the pentatonic licks he's famous for.But it's when Sly decides to cash-in and re-record Kenny's tracks (foolishly keeping the original names) WITHOUT any form of permission from Kenny's recording company and copyright holders of the tunes etc and SELL them (or make them downloadable for free)... Kenny's lawyers fire up. And then further complicates things by putting them in a book (without permissions and copyright clearances from a whole bunch of people associate with each track) and selling that...Yep - I'm sure it is impossible to copyright a live performance solo. You could bootleg it, go home, transcribe it, play it till you knew it inside out and learn from it and dig the sound... But that's it - I've done this cos I enjoyed the ideas the player had, and it helped my understanding of music. Would I put it in a book or sell it online as sheet music? Nope, not worth the time and it'd be stealing. Would I teach it to a pupil? Might do, and I doubt either of us would play it exactly the same way the original did. Should we then both claim ownership of what we did? Grief... this could get silly.The Music Examinations boards stance on 'no handwritten materials' is more to do with supporting the publishing industry and making sure the student has got legible music! We try to work in together - there's a market for the music that can be purchased in a legal way and due royalties paid - and they promote this by stating no bootleg scribbling. I mean, should people be able to print out their own MOT certificates? (There's an idea)Transcribing is a learning process - it's the 'doing' that makes it worthwhile, not really the end result. That's why I think the market for transcription books is almost dead. In Kenny G's case, I doubt the publishers (or Kenny) made much money from sales of the  coupla books that came out with 'Songbird' etc at the time.One of the problems that we face at work is trying to get permissions to produce new sheet music (in particular big band charts) is the process of getting copyright clearance for the UK. The reason - most of the tunes have multiple copyright holders who are difficult to locate and suspicious of anyone getting permission from them and want a ridiculously high royalty %. So they sit on their copyrights, the music gets old and unused and after 70 years its out of copyright and they've made zip. In fact, the major sheet music companies have almost shut-up shop on giving permissions because there's no money in it for them due to the time it takes in administration.Another point: the number of people who'd actually buy a book of transcriptions (featuring saxophone) is in the decline. The whole 'hero-worship' days of pioneers like Pres, Jug, Newk and Trane are over. There are thousands of very able players who can do the same and more. Only a small fraction of Jazzwise's books are transcriptions, and they'd be on sale. Further, there are many pieces of hardware and software that can assist in transcribing, so why buy a book (esp if there's only a coupla tunes you wanted anyway)?Even pop / r'n'b - eg Leona, Girls Aloud, Rhianna, Adele etc - transcriptions are pretty small sellers, but more than the jazz market f'rsure. Ie, that's where the money is. And where there's money, thay'll be dem lawyer fellas... <img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%2064%2064%22%3E%3Ctext%20x%3D%2250%25%22%20y%3D%2250%25%22%20text-anchor%3D%22middle%22%20dominant-baseline%3D%22central%22%20font-size%3D%2254%22%3E%F0%9F%98%89%3C%2Ftext%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="22" height="22" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Simon</blockquote>