body: **Background**: For decades, Jazz musicians have relied on a series of illegal sheet music publications known as either a "Real Book" or a "Fake Book". These are illegal because they contain the melodies of famous songs and are sold without paying royalties to the songwriters. Until 2004 there was no legal version of these books available anywhere, yet it was impossible to be a professional jazz musician without one. So people copied and/or sold them illegally. Hal Leanord and Sher Music now publish legal versions that do pay royalties where required (which includes more than 95% of the tunes). 
  
  
  I am looking for a way to legalize an old (originally illegal) copy of a Real Book, but I don't want to pay as much as one penny to either publisher because they are part of a "music industry" that I do not want to support. There are many reasons, for example the "industry" artificially narrows the focus of popular music to increase profit while reducing production costs. There are also practical reasons, for example the publishers changed the repertoire in the new legal versions of the books, so some of the old tunes are missing. Is there a way I can pay royalties where they are due, without conceding any benefit to these publication companies?
  
  
  
title: Paying royalties without purchasing a publication