What are the 5 basics of music copyright law?  

Introduction

A person who earns money through music composition or sound recording should know that copyright protection exists and that it applies from the moment he starts to create his work. Copyright registration for music is necessary in order to protect the original work of the creator. There are different types of music copyright that are protected by music copyright law. In this blog, we will discuss some basics of music copyright law and types of music copyright.

What is copyright registration for music?

Copyright registration for music means legal control over sound recordings and musical compositions. By Copyright Registration of Music, the owner gets exclusive rights to redistribute and reproduce your work with licensing rights, which permit copyright holders to earn money.

What are the types of music copyrights?

When you hear music or sounds on social media, you might think that copyrighted music only belongs to the singer, but that’s not the truth. The truth is that the music has been made in two parts: one is a musical composition, and the other is sound recordings. Each has a separate copyright registration.

1. Musical composition: The musical composition includes an arrangement of chords, melodies, and notes in proper order, which gives relaxation to your ears. The musical composition is usually done by composers, and lyricists, and managed by their music publisher.

2. Sound recording: “Sound recording” refers to a recording of sounds from which sounds may be produced regardless of the medium on which such a recording is made or the method by which the sounds are produced. The owner of this type of music copyright is the performing artist and their labels. The sound recording includes specific sound recordings that contain a specific expression of the musical composition created by performing or recording artists.

What are the 5 basics of music copyright law?

Now you know, the two types of music copyright that are protected under the music copyright law. The question here is: “How does music copyright law work?” To answer the question, let us discuss the 5 basics of music copyright law.

1. Violation of copyright should be established in court

You are aware that the owner of the original work holds some exclusive rights, and in case anyone violates those rights, it is considered a Copyright Infringement. Such copyright infringement can be established in a court of law in two ways. They are as follows:

• One way is to establish the grounds of infringement, which can be done by showing a copy of a copyrighted work or showing similarities to the original work. When such infringement is proven in court, the offender has to pay compensation.

• The other way is to examine through a mix of quantitative and qualitative analysis, which means that the court will bring in external experts to determine the amount and extent to which the work has been copied. Here, the extent is more important than the amount. If it is established that a work is copyrighted to some extent, the court will rule for Copyright Infringement.

   

2. Copyright work must be original

To claim copyright for your work, it’s crucial that it is original and unique, without any plagiarism or infringement of others’ intellectual property rights. The Copyright Office doesn’t accept works that violate copyright laws, so it’s important to ensure that your work is original. The originality is determined by the court of law.

3. Duration of copyrighted work

Copyrights for music last for 60 years after the death of the owner. After the end of the 60 years, the music is stored in the Public Domain, where anyone can pick up that song and use it wherever they want. If the owner is still alive, then the music will be copyrighted under his name throughout time.

4. Copyright for musical composition by publisher

The copyright for musical compositions is administered by the publisher. In this, a part of the share is always reserved for the author (or authors) of that specific composition, known as the writer’s share. As per the documentation, 50% of the shares are allotted to the publisher, and a portion of these shares goes to the songwriters. This means that when a songwriter signs a publishing deal, they transfer a percentage of their publisher’s share to the publisher in exchange for their services. The other 50% of shares are for royalties and fames which are shared among the publisher and songwriters.

5. Copyright for sound recordings by record labels

The copyright of the sound recording depends on the deal with the record labels. These record labels are either owners of the composition or just parties to the composition. They have the right to exploit the copyrighted sound recording on behalf of the artist, and no one can complain about them. These record labels sign a will through which they can handle the copyright and royalties of that particular work. Later there are some amendments in Copyright Law, from which artists get more popular than those labels. In these types of deals, artists record their voices, and they can call record labels just for a limited time.

Conclusion

We can conclude by saying that a person can only succeed and earn royalties when he is aware of all the types of music copyright. There are different types of copyright for music, like copyright for composers and copyright for artists. The work of these 2 is protected by music copyright law.