MUSIC BUSINESS RESOURCES FROM CMU
Music Rights
The music rights strand of the music industry is primarily focused on managing and monetising copyright. Copyright is a legal concept that exists in most countries and which gives creative people control over the outputs of their creativity. Music rights include the distinct copyrights in songs and recordings.
MUSIC RIGHTS
Copyright protects various different kinds of creative work. UK copyright law specifically protects literary works, dramatic works, musical works, artistic works, recordings, films, broadcasts and typographical arrangements.
From a music industry perspective, we are mainly concerned with the copyright that protects songs (so lyrics, composition, rhythm and melody together) and the separate copyright that protects recordings.
THE MUSIC RIGHTS INDUSTRY
Because copyright law treats songs and recordings separately, so does the music industry. There are two strands of the music industry both focused on music copyright: the music publishing sector and the record industry.
The music publishing sector is focused on the song rights (aka publishing rights or author rights). The record industry is focused on the recording rights (aka master rights or phonographic rights).
VISUAL RIGHTS
Copyright also protects artwork, illustrations and photos – these are artistic works. Obviously the music industry creates lots of these too.
These visuals are often used when marketing songs and recordings. But they can also be directly monetised through merchandise.
COPYRIGHT CONTROLS
A copyright owner has control over their creative work in a number of distinct ways. UK copyright law calls these restricted acts, we call them the copyright controls.
A copyright owner as control over:
> the reproduction of the work.
> the distribution or rental of any copies.
> the adaptation of the work.
> the performance of the work.
> the communication (or broadcast) of the work.
> the making available of the work to the public online on-demand.
So there is:
> the reproduction control.
> the distribution control.
> the rental control.
> the adaptation control.
> the performance control.
> the communication control.
> the making available control.
MUSIC LICENSING
The basic rule of copyright is this: if anyone else wants to reproduce, distribute, rent, adapt, perform, communicate or make available someone else’s copyright protected work, they have to get permission from the copyright owner.
The copyright owner will usually charge for this permission – aka licensing – and that’s how copyright makes money.
MONETISING MUSIC RIGHTS
In the music industry, artists and songwriters usually work with business partners – like record labels and music publishers – to monetise their rights.
There are also the collecting societies – aka collective management organisations (CMOs), performing rights organisations (PROs) or music licensing companies – that actually issue the licence and collect the royalties in various different scenarios, including broadcast and performance.
MORAL + PERFORMER RIGHTS
Artists and songwriters often don’t own or control the copyright in their music, because they have allowed a business partner to have ownership or control.
Nevertheless, creators may still have moral rights over their work and performers have separate performer rights.
TRADEMARK + PERSONALITY RIGHTS
Copyright does not protect names or brands, or provide any control over a person’s image, personality, voice or likeness. But many music-makers build brands around their real or performer name, and also want to control use of their image.
A brand can be protected through trademark – a different kind of intellectual property – and to that end many music-makers register trademarks.
In many countries there is another legal principle called personality rights or publicity rights that allows music-makers to protect their image, personality, voice or likeness, at least to an extent. However, this does not currently exist in the UK.
CMU RESOURCES
| The CMU Explainer on Music Copyright explains the basics of music copyright – and how music copyright makes money – in five easy steps. The CMU Explainer on Music Data looks at all the kinds of music rights data that are essential to ensure music-makers get paid. The Music Copyright Explained guide from CMU and the UK’s Intellectual Property Office provides a comprehensive beginner’s guide to how music copyright works and how music rights make money. |
EXTERNAL LINKS
Intellectual Property Office is the official UK government body responsible for intellectual property rights including copyright.
WIPO is a specialised agency of the United Nations focused on intellectual property rights including copyright.
CLIP is an online resource from WIPO For Creators and the Music Rights Awareness Foundation providing information on key aspects of IP rights for creators.
British Copyright Council brings together organisations representing all the UK copyright industries and provides a forum for discussion about copyright law and related issues at a UK, European and international level.