Understand Music Copyright Laws

Understand Music Copyright Laws

Regulations

Copyright is a universal law which was first introduced in the United States constitution during the 18th century however, most creations before the twentieth century was not legally copyrighted. It was created under the illusion to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited time to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries. It grants congress the rights over all copyrighted materials by securing that authors and inventors only have the rights to their inventions for a limited amount of time. Copyright can be placed on anything in tangible medium such as; literary, artistic, dramatic or architectural works, however, it doesn’t cover material in the public domain. “The constitutional purpose of copyright is to facilitate the flow of ideas in the interest of learning, to secure for the public the benefits form the creations of authors”(Garofalo, p. 33).

The fundamental principle of copyright laws is to grant exclusive ownership to authors and legally allows them to deny others the privilege of using their works. Copyright laws owners have the rights: 1) to display their work publicly; 2) to reproduce the work in copies; 3) to prepare derivative works based upon the work; 4) to distribute copies of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental lease or lending; 4) to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission. Copyright can be placed on anything in tangible medium such as; literary, artistic, dramatic or architectural works, however, it doesn’t cover material in the public domain.

It is notable that the understanding of copyright laws in general can be mildly unclear however in the arena of popular music it is even worse especially for consumers. Most often user and buyers are not sure what the copyright laws are and if they have broken it by letting a friend listen to a knew CD they have just...

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