transcription and copyright

[John Lapeyre]

This question is perhaps tangentially related to the list.
I am transcribing music from a recording into lilypond. I
wonder what possible legal implications of posting my work
on the net might be. Tabs for guitar of contemporary major
pop stars are common all over the web, some on long
established web sites, which leads me to believe no one with
means is objecting to it. However, I wonder if a nice
looking score produced by lilypond would cause some
manager/publisher/recording company to object. I am doing
the transcription strictly as a study and have zero interest
in making money from it.

I have searched some on the web for answers, but got no
clear answer. I searched this list for several key words,
but didn't find anything relevant. It seems that the
recording and sheet music sides of an artist's work are
handled be different companies and different rules.  Does
anyone have any experience with this ?

I have transcribed the guitar and bass parts to "La Vida Es
Un Sueño" from the recording by Marc Ribot on the album
"Marc Ribot Y Los Cubanos Postizos".  The lyric and music to
the piece were written (probably in the 40's or 50's) by Arsenio
Rodriguez. He was Cuban, but moved to the U.S. and he may
have arrived there by the time the piece was recorded. A quick
web search shows that the piece appears in at least a few
song books of popular latin american music. I have ordered
an original recording by Rodriguez' band, but it has not
arrived, so I don't know to what extent the Ribot version
deviates from the original.  There is almost certianly no
sheet music based on the Ribot version.

I phoned Ribot's managment and he said that he thought that
releasing written music for study purposes would not cause a
problem. I don't know what Mr. Ribot's opinion
is. Mr. Rodriguez died thirty years ago.

Thanks,
John