Music Copyrighting

Knowledge of music copyrighting pros and cons should come easily to me for several reasons.  The first reason is because I went to school to learn all about music production and the music business. Secondly, my husband is a professional musician and has been for as long as I have known him. Though he does not make a lot of money from his playing, there are certainly times when the extra money adds up quickly. He has been in a variety of bands, and I have learned a lot about what is right in what is wrong.

One of the first things I learned a bout music copyright was something that I already knew. Just like any other creative endeavor, a song, or even a melody, is under copyright the moment it is created. There are legal steps you should take however, to ensure that your music copyright is upheld. Even though you may have a copyright on your material, there are still many ways people can steal your music from you. Those who freely share music online without the artist benefiting from it are in breach of almost every music copyright law there is.

Perhaps the problem began with how people think about music. They can hear the songs on the radio for free, so they just assume that the music is free. If you worked in a factory and created machines, cars, or any other type of gadget, you are creating something in the same way a musician creates music. The company you work for would not go out on the street and give away everything you have made for free, and a musician would not want to do the same thing either. When you go to a concert you pay an admission price, and when you buy an album you are buying the songs on the album.

Music copyrighting means that the artist is protected. No one can reproduce and give away or sell their music without their permission. Fans don’t realize that when a copy a CD, or share music files online, they are breaking the law. Music copyright protects them and says that if there is a profit to be made they are the only ones that should be making it. It also means that if you make an illegal copy of any song or album you are depriving that musician of a sale. The next time you copy a CD, think about music copyright and remember that even know you may not get caught, you are not doing your favor artist any favors.