Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York
I have a 5 song E.P. on compact disc. I am the owner of the copyright in sound recordings. I have 2 songs from outside writers on this disc. What is the term of copyright for sound recordings? I am featuring all songs on an internet radio station. And, I am presently associated with an agency that sells music on line. If someone purchases one of the songs by one of the outside writers, what should they're royalty be? The one agency will pay .80 per copy to me. Am I entitled to take an artist share?
1 Answer from Attorneys
For copyright purposes, there is a difference between MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS and SOUND RECORDINGS.
A Musical Composition consists of music, including any accompanying words, and is normally registered as a work of performing arts. The author of a musical composition is generally the composer and the lyricist, if any. A musical composition may be in the form of a notated copy (for example, sheet music) or in the form of a phonorecord (for example, cassette tape, LP, or CD).
A Sound Recording results from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds. The author of a sound recording is the performer(s) whose performance is fixed, or the record producer who processes the sounds and fixes them in the final recording, or both.
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Copyright in a sound recording is not the same as, or a substitute for, copyright in the underlying musical composition.
For copyright purposes, there is a difference between MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS and SOUND RECORDINGS.
A Musical Composition consists of music, including any accompanying words, and is normally registered as a work of performing arts. The author of a musical composition is generally the composer and the lyricist, if any. A musical composition may be in the form of a notated copy (for example, sheet music) or in the form of a phonorecord (for example, cassette tape, LP, or CD).
A Sound Recording results from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds. The author of a sound recording is the performer(s) whose performance is fixed, or the record producer who processes the sounds and fixes them in the final recording, or both.
Copyright in a sound recording is not the same as, or a substitute for, copyright in the underlying musical composition.
Copyright in a sound recording protects the particular series of sounds that are �fixed� (embodied in a recording) against unauthorized reproduction and revision, unauthorized distribution of phonorecords containing those sounds, and certain unauthorized performances by means of a digital audio transmission. The Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act of 1995, P.L. 104-39, effective February 1, 1996, created a new limited performance right for certain digital transmissions of sound recordings.
Generally, copyright protection extends to two elements in a sound recording: (1) the performance and (2) the production or engineering of the sound recording.
The rest of your questions are far too complicated and precise to be handled here.
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