There are two ranges of musical copyright this issues from musical composition to sound recording; when hearing a song on the radio or on television we as an audience are listening to two serperate copyrights, one for the underlying composition and one for sound recording. Although both create one piece of work, there are two copyrights. Musical composition consists of music, the writer of the composition is normally the composer alongside the lyricist if these two roles are performed by serperate people. A musical composition can be in the form of written copy such as sheet music or in the form of a CD or tape. Both provide evidence of the musicians work being original. A sound recording results from the fixation of musical sounds or spoken words. The author of the sound recording is usually the performer or the record producer.
In many industries, an artist will create a publishing agreement in which they sign all or a part of their copyright of their compositions to a publisher in return for administration. The administration is that of the publisher seeking out people who want to use or buy the artist's composition to place within their own works - this will include profits being put forward and the artist will recieve a percentage of the money. It is very common to see performers grant copyright of their sound recordings to the record labels they are signed by. Thus if a artist wants to create a cover song, they must get permission from the copyright holder of the musical composition.
Holding a copyright in a piece of work or music allows you exclusive rights to that use of work this may include
Reproduction; the right of reproduction allows the artist to decide who may make a copy of the work and use it within a movie or use it as a sample.
Distribution; this right allows you to decide who may sell copies of the work.
Derivative works; this right allows you to decide who may make a new work based on your original work such as a parody song or movie.
Public performance; this right controls the performance of your work on the radio, clubs or on television - anywhere the performance is deemed public.
Therefore depending on the copyright legal actions, I am aware I may not be able to use specific music tracks within my production and will have to create beats of my own. To this I will work on a computer or find a website that allows me to use copyright free music.
