Copyright In The Music Industry - AUD210 LO7 - Copyright
- Celeste Evans
- Oct 15, 2018
- 2 min read
Copyright plays a large part in almost anything that we produce today. From books and art to film and music, copyright is relevant in every industry.
What exactly is copyright? Well, according to the Oxford Dictionary it is "The exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic or musical material." (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/copyright).
Within audio , there are two types of creative pieces that copyright protects; the first being musical works and the second being sound recordings. Musical works refer to the song itself (instruments and lyrics). Sound recordings are referring to that specific recording of a song.
How Does Copyright Affect Audio
After researching copyright laws within the Audio industry I began to wonder how these laws differed throughout the different types of recordings and productions in the Music Industry.
Usually, whoever makes the sound recording (Producer, Label, Studio, etc.) is the owner of that song and has claim to its rights. In some cases the artist or band who performed the song may also have rights to the song in regards to copyright as well. This will usually vary depending on the agreement/contract that was signed before the recording of that track begins.
The copyright or a musical work or sound recording can last for as long as the life of the artist/author plus an additional 70 years. If the piece was created with more than one artist (eg. By a band) then the copyright with last 70 years after the death of the last surviving member.
Once a musical work or sound recording has been copyrighted, it gives the owner the exclusive rights to reproduce the piece, prepare derivative works based upon the piece, to distribute and sell copies of that piece to the public and to perform that piece in public.
An example of a copyright case within the music industry that caused some controversy is the Vanilla Ice Vs Queen and David Bowie (1990). In this case, Vanilla Ice can clearly be heard sampling the bass line from Queen and David Bowie's collaboration Under Pressure in his hit song Ice Ice Baby ("Under Pressure" and "Ice Ice Baby" Similarity). Ice was recorded saying that the melodies were very distinct because he had "added a beat between notes" (https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-lists/songs-on-trial-12-landmark-music-copyright-cases-166396/vanilla-ice-vs-queen-and-david-bowie-1990-61441/). The case was eventually settled outside of court, with Ice paying an undisclosed amount to Queen and David Bowie and both the latter parties receiving songwriting credits on the track.
I feel like copyright in my industry can be pretty tricky sometimes. It's becoming harder and harder to have a completely original piece as the music industry grows. I feel like there may have to be some changes in the way we deal with some cases of copyright. If an artist lives to be 80-100 years old it means that a creative piece similar to theirs cannot be produced for up to 170 years.
References:
Comments