COPYRIGHT

DEFINITION: The legal right granted to an author, composer, play-writer,

publisher, or distribution to exclusive publication, production sale or
distribution of literacy, musical, dramatic or artistic work.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/copyright

Copyright protects your idea once the idea has been physically expressed, it is
not copyright if you have had a dream or just hummed a song on your daily
activities. Your idea has to be physically written down or recorded and the date
your idea was expressed needs proof that it was expressed on that day. If the
idea was a recording or a written idea you could send it in the post recorded
delivery to your home address which would provide proof that the idea had
been logged on that day by the stamp date provided by the post office. This
makes you the manufacture of the written piece of work or recording and
creates the moment the idea has been fixed by the author and no one else can
copy your idea.
Copyright is a legal right that the law has set out a framework of rules that
makes you the owner of your individual work as if it was your house, car or any
other legal procession you own, giving you ownership over what you have
created. The current copyright legislation in the United Kingdom is the
Copyright, designs and Patents Act 1988 and only allows work to be copyright
if it is:ORIGINAL:
A piece of your own skill and intelligence creation and not something you
would stumble across in your everyday activity.
TANGIBLE:
Your idea needs to be expressed physically, by writing, painting, photographing
recording or performing the idea.
The copyright law grants you ownership and exclusive rights to your piece of
work these include:

The right to reproduce the work

To prepare derivative works
To distribute copies
To perform the work
To display the work in public

Unless you are willing to give these rights up, they are your rights and no one
can violate them legally, if you do not say they can copy your idea, your idea
cannot legally be performed, copied, distributed, rented, put on the internet
written or made public. Copyright protects your work and automatically stops
others from using your work without your permission. Your work is
automatically protected if you create sound/music recordings, film/ television
recordings, software/ databases or web content, broadcasts, original literary,
musical and artistic work and photography.
The length of time your work is protected depends on the type of work you
have created written, dramatic, musical and artistic work is protected 70 years
after the authors death although sound and music recording last 70 years from
when the recording was first published and once the copyright has expired you
are legally able to use the work created.
Various rights organisation shows statistics that only a small amount 5% make
enough money to devote themselves as full time songwriters each year. There
are two royalties from copyright songwriters are able to achieve:

Standard mechanical rate that is 8.5% and is set by law this is physical
play by record, C.D., downloaded on the internet

Airplay performance- television, radio, clubs, concerts ..

Airplay royalties are collected by the performance rights organisation who pay
the royalties straight to the writer not to the performer.
Historically copyright first initialised in the 18th century for the song writer to
copyright the song they would need to put their idea onto sheet music that
would often be used in churches where the composer would carve a date on
the bottom right hand side, the songwriter would then look for a performing
artist to complete their song which they would normally sell 50% of their right

of the song they had written to the performing artist. New technologies
emerged Thomas Edison invented in the 1877s the phonograph that most of
the musical entertainment was played on discs. This helped sound recordings
make a big impact in entertainment until approximately the 1950s the
recording industry consisted of mainly Victor, Columbia and HMV (his masters
voice) until the end of world war two.
Artist and Repertoire are music scouts that traditionally would go to Denmark
Street looking for songwriters matching the songwriter with the
recording/performing artist and try and make the best possible match, they
would then acquire copyright from the songwriter and the songwriter would
gain royalties on every copy sold.
Although throughout the years there position has changed and they are now
point of contact between artist, management and publishing deals. They now
work with the songwriter/performer to help in their development, production
and music publishing as well as live events, television so assisting the artist to
elevate in their career. Publishing deals were then made to records labels who
acquired copyright from the publishers so that they were able to manufacture
records.
The songwriters for Motown gained from copyright as the UK law 1988
Copyrights and Patients act requires record labels to pay royalties of 8.5%
making those multimillionaires as they had to pay for the right to copy which
they recorded in excess 150 multimillion selling hits which the songwriters are
still earning money today.
Brian Higgins started to work for Sony/BMI as a songwriter he was paid in
advance 20.000 which he would have to pay back from future royalties.
Sony/BMI distributed his work to record labels. Paul Adams from Polydor
selects one of his songs for a new girls band called Girls Aloud Sound of the
Underground Brian has to recoup the 20.000 before he is paid anything, so
200.000 copies had to be sold before Brian could make a profit although a
single cd would cost 1.40 which meant Brian would earn 12p although Sony
15% as the publisher leaving Brian with 10 pence a CD on every CD sold. Girls
Aloud make and promote the song for 12 weeks and spend 285.000 they
need to sell 4,750,000 copies to break even at 6p royalty from the single which

they dont they only sell 2,200,000 so Girls Aloud make a loss although Brian
earns 200,000 from his royalties.