Wendelin Bitzan

I have recently been engaged with VG Musikedition, the German collecting society for music publishing, in a discussion on their recent publication on copying musical scores (which is largely based on an older brochure by the same author Thomas Tietze, titled »Perpetrators in Tailcoats«). The subliminally threatening tone of this publication tends to criminalise musicians as »sheet music pirates«, and behaviour due to lack of juridical knowledge is marked as »illegal action«. Using the hashtag #keinenotenkopieohnelizenz, VG Musikedition stereotypically claims that all music copying needs to be licensed regardless of the age of the composer and edition—which is a purely propagandistic view, considering that large portions of the repertoire are in the public domain. My correspondence with director Christian Krauß (at least I believe it’s him) is available through the screenshots below.

I don’t consider this article a particularly convincing piece of journalistic work, but at least it demonstrates the incredible extent of sexually offensive and abusive behaviour that, in all probability, has been carried out for decades by some professors of Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. To me this looks like a collective failure on all levels of academic administration, and in case I had the dubious honour of being employed by this institution, I would quit immediately. If only half of these accusations prove right, the state authority in charge should appropriately install an official committee of inquiry and, if the university fails to prevent further victimisation of their staff and students, take action to close it down as a last consequence.