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Copyright and
publishing go hand in hand. Copyright laws affect all phases of the
music industry: manufacturing copies of recordings, performing,
distribution, display of lyrics or artwork, radio/TV play, recording
other artists' songs, licensing of songs or recorded music, etc. All
copyrights are issued by federal law and deal with registration for
copyright, assignments, infringement, remedies, work-made-for-hire,
blanket licensing, pirating and fair use. The most important thing to
keep in mind about the copyright law is that the right to copy a song or
musical recording is a kind of property that exists apart from the sheet
music or master recording. Simply purchasing a recording in a retail
store, etc., does not give one the right to copy the music on other
tapes or CD's and sell them yourself. A copyright in the U.S. in most
cases lasts the life of the 'author' (artist, writer, songwriter etc.)
plus 50 years, before the work becomes public domain, in which case it
is available for unrestricted use by anyone. Once a work falls into the
public domain it can never be recaptured by the owner. It is in your
best interest to get your work copyrighted right away—a simple and
inexpensive procedure.
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WHAT IS A COPYRIGHT?
Simply stated, a copyright is legal protection of ownership-- the right
to copy a work of original authorship, including works of the visual,
performing and literary arts. A copyright is the exclusive right,
granted by law, for a stated period, usually until 50 years after the
death of the surviving author of the work - to make, dispose of and
otherwise control copies of literary, musical, dramatic, pictorial and
other copyrightable works. Exclusive right is set forth in the 1976
Copyright Law Section 106.
HOW TO COPYRIGHT
To register a music work under the 1976 Copyright Act
1. Send a request for application to:
Register of Copyrights
Copyright Office
Library Of Congress
Washington, D.C. 20559
202-707-9100
2. Send completed application to the Copyright Office with:
a) 1 copy of manuscript, lead sheet or tape if unpublished
b) 2 copies of manuscript (sheet music) or tape if published
c) Appropriate registration fee by money order, bank draft or check made
payable to Register of Copyrights.
APPLYING COPYRIGHT NOTICE ON PRODUCT
The statutory copyright notice must appear on every published copy of a
song, artwork etc. It should include:
1. The word 'copyright'
2. The copyright symbol
3. Owner of copyright (you)
4. The year of first publication
5. For South American publication, add 'All rights reserved.'
"WORK FOR HIRE"
It is important in copyright law to distinguish between ownership or
copyrights in a work and a "work made for hire" when a
songwriter agrees to write a song for an employer while in the employee
of that person. Where a songwriter agrees that his song is a "work
made for hire", his hiring employer is deemed to be the copyright
owner with all rights to register and grant assignments and renewals and
collect all royalties; Under the law, the creator of a work who is not
an employee acting in the scope of his employment is considered the
copyright owner from the moment the work is fixed in a tangible medium
of expression - unless he signs an agreement stating that the work is
one 'made for hire.'
Should you neglect to include the required notice on your work and do
not stay within certain curative provisions under the law, you could
lose valuable benefits, or worse, the work just might fall into the
public domain. Certain things that can not be copyrighted such as titles
or ideas not reduced to written or recorded form or works not possessing
enough originality to distinguish them from other copyrighted or public
domain material. All other works should be registered with the Registrar
of Copyrights, Library of Congress.
EXCLUSIVE RIGH'I'S.
The rights of the songwriter under Copyright Law include:
1. The right to publish the song
2. The right to make arrangements of the song
3. The right to make and distribute sound recordings of the song,
subject to compulsory license
4. The right to perform the song publicly
COPYRIGHTS & RECORD CO. CONTRACTS
Where the artist under contract owns the copyright on recorded, the
record ~ will sometimes demand that the artist transfer a portion of the
copyright to the them. Often the record company will require the artist
to enter a co-publishing agreement at the time of contracting the record
deal. Where the artist will not or can not transfer the publishing
rights to a song; the record company will still require that the artist
negotiate a 'mechanical’ royalty, at more-favorable-than-statutory
rates, on ‘controlled compositions,’ songs whose copyrights the
artist controls.
CONTROLLED COMPOSITION
Controlled composition is one written or co-written by a recording
artist (and sometimes the producer in and of contract) under an
exclusive recording agreement. Typically, the recording company will pay
75% of the minimum statutory rate on only 10 sides per LP, and 2 sides
per single recording, regardless of the actual number of sides or
lengths of the compositions.
COMPULSORY MECHANICAL LICENSE
Compulsory Mechanical License is a license provided by the Copyright Law
allowing anyone to record a song previously commercially recorded with
authorization, as long as that person pays at least the current
royalties set by the Copyright Royalty Tribunal. This pertains to
‘cover’ songs. The right of the songwriter to record or authorize
the recording of one's song is subject to the non-exclusive right of any
other person (once the song has been recorded) to make and distribute
one's own recordings of the same song. This compulsory license is
obtained by filing a notice of intention with the copyright owner or the
copyright office paying the statutory royalty to the songwriter.
Songwriter must register song in order to receive mechanical royalties.
FAIR USE
The Copyright Law qualifies the exclusive rights of the songwriter
permitting certain kinds of ‘fair use’ of a song for purposes such
as “criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or
research.” The copyright act also exempts from liability for copyright
infringement certain performances of music such as a performance in the
course of face-to-face teaching activities of a non-profit educational
institution; closed cirsuit transmissions by a governmental body or an
institution; services at a place of worship; at a free concert where no
admission is charged or if the proceeds from the concert are used
exclusively for charitable purposes. An exception in the latter case is
that the songwriter has the right to veto use by serving a written
notice of objection to the performance.
SONG REGISTRATION - BEFORE YOU PUBLISH
What does a songwriter do if his or her work is not yet copyrighted but
he or she wishes to perform the song publicly? To protect their songs
from rip-offs while demonstrating or performing them in public, you can
cheaply and safely establish proof of authorship by registering their
song(s) with (1) The Copyright Office in Washington DC by filing Form E
or (2) as an interim action only, consult your attorney. Supply him or
her with a copy of your song on tape or disc, or even just a lyric sheet
if that is all you have written. Have your attorney seal it, date it,
give it a registration or identifying number and file it in a vault. Get
a signed receipt. This does NOT give you the protection of a copyright
but does identify your authorship.
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