How to Protect Your Tracks Within Music Copyright Law?

A musician who ever publishes tracks via streaming services, platforms, or using other methods becomes a copyright owner. If you want to become a successful musician and make money, you should know how to copyright your music and don't let anyone break it. The music copyright landscape is complicated, especially in the question of royalty distribution. Since most musicians are assigned to record labels and cooperate with distributors, the initial revenue is shared among them. Another thing that is worth attention is music licensing. Not only musicians, but composers, producers, recording artists, and other personalities involved in the music industry should obtain a license to avoid copyright infringement.

Depending on your intentions, you may need a specific music license. For example, a synchronization license allows to use of tracks for commercials, TV shows, movies, movie trailers, etc.

Some points of copyright law may confuse musicians first, especially when it comes to registering your music or sharing it for commercials. However, if you have everything explained, there's nothing you could misunderstand. Follow our article to understand all the nuances of music copyright and how it affects your ability to earn money as an artist.

Music Copyright Explained

When we mention copyright, people think it's the right of a person to share products and make income with them (in our case, share music and get revenue). However, it has a bit different meaning. Copyright is like a trademark assigned to an artist the moment their songs are captured in a tangible format. For example, if you recorded a song, you immediately own copyright to it. In case the creator records a song by himself, he will be the only right owner. However, it's an unpopular practice today, as most musicians create tracks in cooperation with producers or other musicians. In that case, the right to own the track is shared. Moreover, today, paying someone for work (for example, a joint audio recording) means they may claim ownership of your copyright after some time. For example, the U.S. Copyright Law says that two or more people who worked together to create content can claim equal rights to this content unless they have no other agreements. So, even if you did most of the job but still asked for help, your partner may claim equal rights to your content.

The best way to avoid issues and register your work properly is to sign a deal with your collaborators, mentioning how the rights are split. After signing the deal, you register your copyright according to that document. Copyright registration is a wise step towards copyright protection and a chance to avoid infringement lawsuits and other issues. By signing a deal with the person who assisted you, you also deal with the issue of splitting publishing royalties. Usually, they are split 50/50 between songwriters and publishers, but the cases may differ.

Copyright owners possess several rights, including:

• The right to sell, reproduce, and distribute copies of sheet music or audio recordings. The "first sale" doctrine confirms that copyright owners can distribute their work first. Others, therefore, must pay a fee to the copyright owner to do so.

• The right to compose derivative tracks from the original one.

• The right for public performing. If someone performs the music you own, you'll receive royalties for that.

• The right for public display of musical work.

We should also admit how copyright works in case an artist or creator dies. According to the law, the copyright lasts for the lifetime of a person and 70 years after it. For example, if 2Pac was killed in 1996, the copyright will protect his songs till 2066. Today, creators also decide who'll own the copyright in case of their death, mentioning it in their Will.

A Musical Work and a Sound Recording: What’s the Difference?

When working with music, we should mention two types of music protected by copyright: a musical work and a sound recording. A sound recording contains the music, lyrics, words, or other content included in the recording. A musical work includes a song and accompanying lyrics, while the sound recording can include any additional songs, including noises, additional effects, etc. 

How to Register Your Work as a Copyright Holder?

Registering your work in the U.S. copyright office may give you additional benefits. One of the most important advantages is access to federal courts if the infringement is about to happen. Also, by doing such registration, you make a public record of your owning the song. To perform such registration at the U.S. copyright office, you should apply with the following documents:

• Standard Application to register a musical work or an individual sound recording (depends on what you have).

• Group Registration of Unpublished Works for registering up to ten unpublished works all by the same author, and the author is the claimant.

• Group Registration of Works on an Album of Music for registering up to twenty musical works or twenty sound recordings if the works are created by the same author or have at least one common author and if the claimant for each work in the group is the same. In the case of an application to register sound recordings, there may also be the need to register any associated literary, pictorial, and graphic works in the album, such as cover art, liner notes, and posters.

In addition, you may consider signing a trademark application for your band name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, just to make sure nobody is taking your name or using it illegally.

What to Do if Your Music Was Used Without Permission

The fact that copyright exists in the music industry doesn't mean everyone will follow it. There are dozens of cases of users uploading someone else's music on streaming platforms without permission with the intent to get paid. What to do in such cases? First, you have to report to the streaming service. Each platform, like Spotify or Apple Music, has an algorithm of what to do in case of content infringement. For example, on Spotify, you need to send an email to course-legal-claims@spotify.com or directly to the following address:

Spotify USA Inc.
Attn: Legal Department, Copyright Agent
4 World Trade Center
150 Greenwich Street, 62nd Floor
course-legal-claims@spotify.com

An email should contain a link to the song uploaded illegally. It's also important to include as much information as possible to help the investigation and identify illegal actions. Besides adding a link to the song, include the following:

1. An owner's physical or electronic signature of the copyright that is allegedly infringed.

2. Identification of each copyrighted work that’s been named infringed.

3. A description of the material which supposed to be infringing is located on the Spotify Service or the Spotify Website. Usually comes as a URL.

4. Contact information for the complaining side. It must include a full name, a telephone number, an address, and an email address.

5. A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the work(s) in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;

6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate and that the complaining party is the owner of the allegedly infringed right or an agent for the owner.

The response time depends on the case. The investigation may take longer than expected if you can't provide much data. 

Here’s what can happen to infringers in case they break they go against their copyright and use music without permission.

Does Copyright Help You Make Money on Music?

Copyright owners grant exclusive rights, including one to earn money from intellectual property. It means when your music is used, you receive royalties. It doesn't mean someone is buying your rights and taking them away from you, but it means others use your tracks legally. One of the mechanisms of tracking royalties is Kuvo. The purpose of this software is to track music using direct metadata capture technology and music recognition technology. It allows musicians to receive the deserved income and monitor the fact that no one breaks the copyright.

Make sure you are familiar with the current laws, so you'll do everything to ensure your work is protected by copyright. Once you do it, it won't be a problem to upload music to streaming platforms and launch music promotion. If people use your tracks considering the copyright, you'll even get the compensation.

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