From
Dolly Parton
to One Direction : essential copyright law for musicians
While intellectual property law is relevant to every business , it ’ s the stock in trade of creative professionals . For musicians , good decisions on intellectual property rights are vital to turning talent into something you can live on .
I recently had the pleasure of talking with a group of bands and artists at the early stages of their career around the legal issues involved in bringing their creativity to the marketplace . This was hosted by Creative Café , a networking group for artists run by the Brighton Dome .
Interestingly , in a number of cases , the law seemed to be conceptually ahead of some of their thinking . For hundreds of years it has been accepted that Intellectual Property can be an asset . As such it can be sold , licensed or even bequeathed in much the same way as a physical asset . So in a literary , dramatic , musical or artistic work the original copyright will be the property of the author , unless they enter into a legal agreement to transfer that ownership to someone else .
That transfer can be for a temporary period , usually referred to as a licence , or it can be sold permanently .
The way an artist navigates legal transfers has a fundamental affect on their ability to make money . Notoriously business-savvy country siren Dolly Parton refused to duet with Elvis Presley on her song I Will Always Love You because the King demanded she sell him the copyright . Standing her ground enabled Parton to profit from Whitney
Houston ’ s internationally ubiquitous cover when it became the bestselling female soloist single of all time .
Since copyright exists for 70 years after the death of the author , assets should be taken into consideration when planning inheritance issues .
Agreements to sell or licence copyright can be very straightforward . But aspiring musicians must be aware of their rights so they can take control of the licensing or selling of those rights knowingly . If the value of any artistic work is to be exploited , then the creators should have control over the initial exploitation .
For the bands I met at the Creative Café , so far so simple . However there are other aspects of copyright that could affect their careers . For example the rules relating to the ownership and length of copyright in sound recordings are slightly different . If a band were to record one of its songs then the copyright in the song itself will belong to its authors for 70 years from the date of death . However in the recording that they may release for sale the copyright lasts for a period of 50 years . Some readers may recall a recent campaign involving Sir Cliff Richard and others trying to extend this period as some of their earlier works were now more than 50 years old and royalties had stopped .
Generally speaking the availability of creative works over the internet , and the ease with which copies can be made , does not affect the law relating to copyright . But it does make it much more difficult to enforce .
The fact that a track appears on the internet does not automatically give anyone else rights to make copies . However , I do advise bands to be aware of the likelihood of copies being made , and that if they were to put out a song performance through social media or a video channel they should do so in the knowledge that infringing copies may well be made . That ’ s not to say I advise against it . Each artist must make their own commercial judgement about whether this will serve a purpose in terms of establishing a following and whether allowing people to freely listen to some music makes sales of gig tickets or future recordings more likely .
Again the key element is to make a conscious decision over whether to give away a track as a marketing investment . If they did so it would be in the knowledge that future works could be properly protected and dealt with on a sound commercial footing .
copyright exists for 70 years after the death of the author
There is more than one way to make money from music as evidenced by teen multimillionaires One Direction . Since they don ’ t write their own songs they rarely make any money from music publishing ; it all comes from memorabilia and concert tickets . While Radiohead was giving music away for free back when CD sales dictated the charts , welcoming fans to pay what they liked for downloads as early as 2007 .
The creator of any artistic work , be it musical , literary , photographic or design , should find out what rights and assets they have and learn how they can be dealt with . This enables people to make a positive decision about whether they wish to sell , licence or bequeath an asset in a particular way . Ultimately , as some people do , they may choose to simply give away those rights but they should make that decision theirs , not the pirate ’ s .
By Dean Orgill 79