As your career grows your dealings in the music industry progress it is essential that you have a firm understanding on what a copyright is and its value and importance in securing your business dealings and artistic integrity.

Having a copyright on your recorded material allows you to have exclusive access and ownership of that material. As your career grows and more people become involved in your business, maintaining control over your work, both legally and professionally, will become imperative.

In order for your work to be copyrighted it must meet certain criteria

  • It must be an original composition
  • The composition must be materially sufficient enough to constitute a “work”

If this criteria seems vague that’s because it is and that is done intentionally. Copyright registration is decided upon on a case-by-case basis allowing these criteria to be decided upon subjectively.

However, once you produce a tangible copy of your work(a CD, a cassette, anything that you can hold and contains your work) you are then entitled to, and assigned as the owner of, the copyright of that work. A copyright doesn’t need to be registered. As long as you have created a physical copy of your work, you become the copyright holder. Being a copyright holder then entitles you to specific and important rights as an artist. These rights include:

Reproduction

As the copyright holder, no one is legally allowed to reproduce your work or create work that is similar to yours. If your work is reproduced in any fashion you are entitled to compensation.

Distribution

As the copyright holder you are also in control of how your music is distributed. Your permission is needed in order for your work to be reproduced and subsequently distributed. The more music that you distribute the more compensation you are entitled to.

Performance

Anything from a song being played in a nightclub, in a movie, on the radio or anywhere music is heard publicly falls under the category of “Performance.” For your work to be played in a public space, it must be licensed. As long as you are the copyright holder, you decide who can licence your music and how much it will cost to do so.

Copyrighting your work allows you to have an absolute monopoly on your work thus giving you complete control over access to your work. In a world where the internet gives consumers open-ended access to content, maintaining control over your work is increasingly important in relation to your success as an artist.