Saturday, July 2, 2011

Song Copyright - What Is and Isn't Protected

Copyright law has been in existence for many years to assist and safeguard the creators of such things as artwork, literary works, photographs/images and songs. Being a songwriter you will need to know exactly how music copyright law works and ways in which you are able to make use of it to safeguard your music. This article will let you know exactly what is and isn't protected underneath music copyright law.

Before we begin I just need to emphasize to you that I 'm definitely not a music attorney! The tips I provide come from my own personal knowledge, experience and info I've obtained throughout my songwriting years. And for that reason it is always wise to consult with a specialist music attorney with regard to serious issues!

Music Copyright laws -- What On Earth Is Protected?

So what is protected under music copyright law In the event you possess the copyright. This is what can be done with your songs.

Reproduction Privileges: The copyright owner has the right to reproduce lyrics or music.

The Distribution Rights: The legal right to distribute the music or lyrics possibly for free of charge, for virtually no profit, or for profit.

Performance: The legal right to perform the songs in public areas.

Play In Public Areas: You are able to play your music in public places by means of Compact Disc, Mp3 and so on.

Derivative: The legal right to produce a by-product by using the original piece of music for us in public areas in all forms, i.e. employ a different arrangement, using different musicians etc.

Music Copyright laws -- What Exactly Is Not Protected?

This is a list of things that are not protected under copyright law so you will never have to worry about copyright infringement under these areas.

Titles or Short Sentences: Imagine if somebody might have copyrighted the words "Happy Christmas", "I Love You" or even "Home" as a song title?

Chord Progressions: There exists only so many chords, therefore only a multitude of chord combos which can be created from all of them, hence, in the event you could possibly copyright a chord progression then we would certainly run out of progressions for brand new songs extremely fast.

Concepts/Ideas: 'Girl falls for boy', 'boy misses girl', 'sexual attraction', 'no money' just how frequently have you noticed all these ideas being made use of in songs?

Rhythmic Patterns: Even though you can certainly copyright specific recordings of rhythms you are most definitely unable to copyright the particular rhythmic patterns.

If you found this songwriting article interesting and would like to learn some more tips and techniques then why not check out my website Free Songwriting Tips.

Craig S.

http://www.world-of-songwriting.com/

Professional Songwriter & Musician.


View the original article here

No comments:

Post a Comment