Project Unicorn

If you are a musician, you have probably wondered about whether or not you should copyright your work, and what it means to do so. Owning exclusive rights to your work is known as a copyright. Once a copyright is established, it protects your composition for many years, even if you never register your copyright with the copyright office.

Essentially, when your music and/or lyrics are under copyright protection the following holds true unless you give express written permission:

• No one can reproduce your music or lyrics
• No one can perform your music or lyrics in public
• No one can make a derivative work or arrangement for public use in any form
• No one can distribute your music or lyrics for free, for no profit, or for profit

While many artists copyright their work, in order to legally enforce a copyright, the copyright must be registered with the copyright office. However, if it is not registered, it can still be considered valid if the artist can show definitive proof that they are the author of the work in question. Copyrights eventually expire, and can be renounced as well, and all compositions not protected under a copyright are under what is known as Public Domain, which means, essentially, that it has no owner and that anyone can use it.

So what does all of this mean for you, the independent artist? Two important things:

• You should copyright and register the copyright for all of the music and lyrics that you compose if you intend to commercially produce them. If there is more than one author/composer, their name(s) can be included in the copyright as well.

• You should be very careful when using or sampling the music or lyrics of other artists without express written permission. Don’t just assume that something is in the public domain without checking first.

If you are serious about your musical career, you owe it to yourself to familiarize yourself with copyright laws. Here are some links to get you started:

U.S. www.copyright.gov

U.K. http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law

Meredith Treinen Musings copyright music, music copyright laws