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song ownership

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stargate | 13:23 Tue 05th Jul 2005 | Music
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Is it possible to "buy" a song .....as in could i buy somebodys song after the copywrite runs out ?
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i have never heard of the copyright "running out" on a song?

however it is possible to buy the copyright from the owner of the song as per michael jackson and the catalogue of beatles tracks he famously bought.
You could if you lived long enough. see here.

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#hlc
Copyright can be bought and sold- if you find someone who will sell it to you!! Most artists rely on their copyrights (royalties) to fund them in their old age.
You can't buy somebody's song AFTER the copyright runs out, because... well, that's what copyright running out means. It's then in the public domain and copyright no longer applies.
But you can copyright the arrangement of an out of copyright song. Paul Simon famously did so with 'Scarborough Fair', a traditional song, much to the chagrin of Martin Carthy, from whom he learnt it.
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cheers for that ..........any idea how paul simon went about how he did that then ?

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