As an artist, your creative works are the lifeline of your business. By protecting them through copyright registration, you can control how they're used and ensure that you receive the income from them that you deserve.
To make the system function for you, you have to understand how it works. To that end, we'll explain a number of important music-copyright issues, such as what constitutes a copyrightable work, how to properly register a work, what rights you have if you're hired to write a song, and what happens to your copyright when you die. But remember, if you have copyright questions, consult a qualified attorney; this series should not be considered legal advice.
Just the fact...
In its most rudimentary definition, a copyright is actually personal property. But like trademarks and patents, a copyright is regarded as intellectual property, which is created from the minds of its authors. Copyright protection applies to literary works, musical compositions and recordings, dramatic works, choreography, and visual arts.
When you own the rights to a song, you control its use. Ownership gives you six exclusive rights: the right to make copies, creative derivative works and revisions, publish and distribute your creation, perform the work in public (or display it, in the case of visual art), and, in the case of sound recordings, perform it in public through a digital transmission (currently this refers to songs played on the Web). As an owner, you can even assign the whole copyright or shares of it to others.
For a song to be copyrightable, it must meet three criteria. First, your work must be fixed in a tangible form--it must be written down or recorded, so others can perceive it. Second, it has to be original, meaning that someone else hasn't already created it. And, third, it must demonstrate at least a modicum of creative expression...
More tomorrow.....
