C O P Y    R I G H T S

This information refers specifically to US copyright, but the basic concepts of copyright are the same from country to country though, so check it out. I'm sure that someone has already worked out copyright laws for interstellar space travel. Brian Eno's contract is rumoured to cover territories other than earth, which is isn't as outlandish as you may think....

Copyright refers to a number of different rights that are initially owned by the composer and/or recording artist until he or she gives those rights to someone else.

You have a Right to your Copy (and a right to stop others from copying) as soon as you have commited your compositon to a tangible form. In this case, this means when it hits the DAT machine. In order to most fully protect this right, you can register it.

_Composition Copyright_ There are rights concerning the "underlying composition". You can write (© your name and the year) to designate copyright of compostion. As the composer, you are entitled to Mechanical Royalties.

_Sound Recording Copyright_ There are separate rights concerning the physical recording of that composition. ("p with a circle around it" name year) designates the copyright of the sound recording.

These markings(© p with a circle) are no longer neccessary, you are protected by law whether you put them on there or not. This is not the case in countries other than the US, so check the laws (and then tell me), and put it on your demos just to let potential biters know.

The composer can earn money every time the composition is played ( Performance Royalties ) and every time a recording of that composition is physically copied ( Mechanical Royalties ).

The recording artist can earn money every time the recording is played (Performance Royalties) and if they are also the composer, every time that recording is copied (Mechanical Royalties).

Obviously, from our standpoint, a lot of time the composition and the recording are indistinguishable, and the composer and the recording artist are just about always the same person(s). But if it is a song, or is obviously a remixable($), recognizable, restructurable entity (you know,"catchy"), then we have different components to look at.

If your track gets remixed, you should still get performance and mechanical royalties as the original composer of the tune. In the eyes of copyright law, the remixer is not really composing anything, and they just do it for a set fee. But the record company and the original artist do collect money, and that is one reason why remix fees are often so high.

Sometimes an artist transfers certain copyrights to the label in a Publishing Contract. This is because there is money involved, and the label wants that. Often the label is also capable of making that copyright produce more money than the artist can. See Publishing Companies.