AMEI: On Internal Content in Electronic Musical Instruments
April 28, 2008

Electronic musical instruments are provided with “internal content” such as sound waveform data and performance data with the intention that said internal content is to be used for musical expression. Such internal content is provided for musical performance and/or recording by the user of the instrument, and this type of “normal use” is to be supported and encouraged. No restrictions should apply to “normal use” of the internal content of a legitimately acquired electronic musical instrument.
However, the recent growth of digital technology and the Internet in combination with the inclusion of convenient features that add to the value of electronic musical instruments, has led to unprecedented problems in the form of illegitimate copying and distribution of internal content that is outside the scope of “normal use”.
Not only does such illegitimate use of internal electronic musical instrument content result in substantial losses to the producers of electronic musical instruments, but it is also an impediment to the progress of musical culture in general.
AMEI proposes the following to eliminate illegitimate use of internal content provided with electronic musical instruments and promote the proper use of such instruments.

The following uses of internal electronics musical instrument content are illegitimate:

The extraction of internal electronic musical instrument content from an electronic musical instrument and, whether in original or modified form …
  1. Recording said content to a separate medium and offering that medium itself for sale, or producing an electronic musical instrument into which the extracted content has been incorporated and offering that instrument for sale.
  2. Making said content available on, or transmitting said content over, a computer network.
A user may employ an electronic musical instrument for instrumental performance or the recording of such performances without restriction, but use that falls outside the scope of “normal use,” such as copying the instrument’s built-in content and/or distributing the instrument’s built-in content via a network (including making the instrument’s built-in content transmittable), may be in violation of copyright law.

Although the fact that copyright law protects music CDs and published MIDI data is well known, the fact that copyright law also applies to the internal content of electronic musical instruments is less widely recognized. AMEI intends to continue its research into intellectual property rights with regard to internal content in electronic musical instruments.


Definitions
1. Electronic musical instrument.
In addition to electronic musical instruments composed of hardware, this term includes music-production software that runs on a computer (software synthesizers, software music sequencers, and others).
2. The term “internal electronic musical instrument content” refers to the following:
  1. Sound waveform data.
    Waveform data sampled from acoustic musical instruments or other sources that is intended for playback.
  2. Style data.
    Style data is data that provides the material for automatic accompaniment, including rhythm and bass sounds as well as preset accompaniment patterns.
  3. Data to support music production and performance.
    Phrase data, audio loops, and similar data incorporated into software synthesizers or other functions.
  4. Internal demonstration tunes.