15: COPYRIGHTS GENERAL

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Introduction to Rights and the
Consequences of Ownership in the UK Music Industry.

This page contains introductory details concerning copyright issues in the UK music business. For much greater details consult the literature mentioned in the body of the text. Links are provided to relevant websites containing up to date information on many of the issues. Use the links within this page to access the different parts of the document, which has been designed specifically for people who do not find reading long tracts of text particularly to their taste.

The 3 links on the right, in the blue part of the page (the PRS, MCPS and PPL logos) are to websites which contain more information about each respective organisation. They will only work if the computer you are working on is connected to the internet.

Introduction

One of the main things that are traded in the music industry are rights. This may not seem all that obvious to a casual observer, but is of very fundamental interest to any student of music and the industry which surrounds it. Although what we generally see is the trade of CDs and records, or the exchange of performance for a sum of cash, at the root of all this is a trade in rights. It is crucial to know what these rights are for someone going into the music business. Not knowing can be the root cause of being ripped off, and hanging onto as many rights as possible could make a major financial difference to the fortunes of any artiste or performer.

There are at least four rights concepts of interest to us - all of which rely on principles found in the 1988 Copyright Act; performing rights, mechanical rights, phonographic rights, and moral rights. Each of these rights has its own page on this site - use the links in the closely related pages yellow box.

Type of Right:	Whose interests they work in.
Performing Rights	Composer, Publisher/composer
Mechanical Rights	Composer, Publisher/composer
Phonographic Rights	Owner of the recording - usually the record company.
Moral Rights	Composer.

According to copyright law in the UK (Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988) copyright automatically exists immediately an original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work has been created so long as its written down or recorded in some material form, such as on tape, hard disc, or written on manuscript.

Copyright in such works enables the copyright owner to control the following uses of the work:

1. In the case of literary, dramatic or musical works.

Subject to certain statutory exceptions, the right to do any of the above acts is exclusive to the copyright owner to the extent that no-one without his permission can do or authorise the doing of those acts in relation to the protected work.

Normally copyright belongs initially to the creator of the protected work, i.e. the author, composer or artiste and this may be sold, licensed or bequeathed wholly or in part in the same way as any other property. However, where a work is made by an employee in the course of employment, the employer is the first owner of the copyright unless there is an agreement to the contrary.

Musical works in normal circumstances enjoy copyright protection in the UK until 70 years after the end of the year in which the copyright owner dies.

Sound recordings, regardless of whether the music is in copyright or not, remain in copyright for 70years after the end of the year of first issue.

Infringement Of Copyright

The general rule is that to do or authorise the doing of any of the restricted acts without the consent of the copyright owner is a primary infringement of copyright.

In addition, any person who effectively facilitates or compounds the effects of primary infringement may be liable for secondary infringement of copyright under the 1988 Act. However, to be liable for the secondary infringement of copyright, the person must generally either know, or have reason to believe, that copyright would be or had been infringed.

A copyright owner is entitled to bring civil proceedings for infringement and to obtain relief in the same way as if any other property right had been infringed. For example, he is allowed damages or he may obtain an injunction to prevent the continuance of an infringement.

No Formal Registration Required To Protect Copyright

Songwriters should remember that under UK law both musical works and literary works are automatically protected from the time that they are committed to some material form - that is, written down or recorded in any way; no official registration is necessary to secure copyright in the work. Notification of a title, as is required from PRS members for the Society's works registration purposes, does not create copyright in the notified work or works.

A consequence of the above is that, in the event of a dispute over authorship, ownership or originality, there is no standard way of proving that one work was in existence before another. There are, however, several ways in which it is possible to prove that a work had been produced by a given date, namely:-

NB: Copyright is a complex matter and these notes are not to be taken as anything more than a brief indication of a few basic points. Anyone contemplating entering into an agreement involving copyright in any way is strongly advised to take independent legal advice.

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