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Copyright
lntrcduction
In simpletermsthe copyrightof yourmusicis yourwayof
protectingit andyourownershipof it. ll's a legalrightand
can seema bit complexat first.
yourrightsas a copyrightowneris howyou
Butexploiting
makeyourmoneyas a songwriter. So you needto know
namesofwritersofthe song.Includetheiraddresses
so
you cantrackthe downin 20 yearstimel
- Alsoincludeanythingthat mighthelpdemonstrate that
you wrotethe song- development mixes,MlDlfiles,
URLsof any siteswhereyou'vepostedthe music.
- Makesurethatyouwritethe nameofthe songon the
outsideofthe pacl.age.As youwritesongs,you'llbuildup
quitea few of theseandyou'lllookprettydumbopening
15Jiffybagsin frontof yoursolicitor,
tryingto findthe
rightCD.

- Getthe PostOfficeto dalestampacrossthe seal.

Thisleaflettakesyouthroughcopyright,including:

. - Don'topenthe packagewhenit anives,just put it

Thedifferenttypes somewhere safe.
. CopyrightProtection
. Yourrights Youdon'tnecessarily needa recording,
a manuscript
of
. Publishingandcopyright the musicand a lyricsheetwilldo.
. N,toral
rights
. copyrightof recordings
. Performers'rights Your rights as the owner
you havea
As the owneror ownersofa copyright,
numberof rightsset downin law.Amongthemarel
Copyrightin songs/compositions
Withsongs,thercaretwo differentforms
ofcopyright - Therightto performthe songin publicorfor a recording
whichworkalongsideeachother. (theperformance
of it to be playedin publicor broadcast
rights)
Thefirstcoversthe composition
ofthe song- the actual
wordsand music. - Therightto makecopiesofthe songfor sale(the
mechanical copyright)
Thiscopyrightis aulomaticand belongsto the writeror
writersofthe songas soonas it comesout oftheirhead - The rightnotto haveyourmusictreated'derogatoriy'
-
and is putintosomekindof recordedform.Thiscouldbe likesomeonewritingcomedylyricsto yourmelodyor flow
recordingit on tape,CD,computeretc,or it couldbe
writingoutthe lyricsand musicon paper. - Therightto be creditedas the owner(so no-oneelse
can claimto own it)
In the UK musiccopyrightlastsfor 70 yearsaflerthe
deathof thewriter,so it'ssomethingyoucan passon 1o Thelasttwoof lheseare moral ghts,whichwe'llcover
yourgrandchildren tarer.

Thesemndformis the copyrightin a recording.

We'll
coverthatlater. Il/loney
Thefirsttwo rightsarewhatgeneratemoneyforw ters.

CopyrighlProtection Everytimea songis performedlive,remrded,orwhena

a songbutthis isn'taccurale.
Peopletalkof 'copyrighting'
Copyrightis a thingyou havenota thingyou do - and you
haveit frcmthe momentyou'vewrittenthe music.
You mayneedto proveyou arethe copydghtownerif
there'sa disputeoverthe ownershipof a song.lf
someonereleasesa songwithlyricsthatare extremely
similartoyours,andyou believethatthey'vebittenthem,
you will needto provethatyouwrotethemfirst.
Thatmeansprovingthe daleyouwrotethem.Theeasiest
wayto do thisis to sendyourselfa copyofyour material
by recordeddelivery.Remembering to do the following:
- Puta noteinsideofwhenandwherethe materialwas
recorded,a listof performers
on the recording,
andthe
CD or vinylcopyof a recordingis madefor sale,the
writersare duesomemoney,knownas a royalty.
Thisapplieswhetheryouperformor recordthe song
yourselforif someoneelsedoesa coverversion.
Varioussocietieshavebeenset upwhichcollectthese
royaltiescommunally anddistribute the moneyto the
rightfulowners.MCPSand PRSare the mainsocietiesin
thiscountry,to findout moreaboutthem,havea lookat
the Management and llloneysectionofthe HowTo ..
arcaon the Onellusicsite.
Butrememberthis: ifyour musicis beingplayedon radio
ot in clubswhetheryou have a deal ot not you may be
duesomeroyalties. And if youdont claimthem,theyget
givento gomeoneelse.

:;r:3 :3 3r r!ar.ple ol i:rOrevrtrsra!:jlala. Tleaa 3* iraa:smait :: ,,,..,,!'aa,.:.co.uk/ralll]l,'i:lia''r:lilt

Youdon'tneeda manager,a labelor any of that.A dub lroral Rights
plateor a demoCD counts.So if you'regettingplays,get As the writerofa song,you alsohavemoralrightsin it.
on the phoneand see ifyou canclaim.CallPRS- the
number'sat the end ofthis booklet. Themainonesare the'paternity'right, whichis the right
to be creditedas the authorofthe work,and the more
contentious'integrityright'.
Co-w.iting
Whenwritingwithotherpeople,eachofyou hasa claim Thisis yourrightnotto haveyourmusictreatedin a
on the copyrightin the songand youwill needto agree 'derogatorymanner'-
howto dividethe royalties.So it's imporlantto confirmin
writingwhatshareeachofyou haswritten. Thatmeansthingslikealternativelyricsor parodieswhich
the workin a mannerprejudicialtolyour]
'mutilate
Therearcn'tanyllxedrulesaboutthis,but a coupleof nonour"
methodshavedeveloped.
It canalsoextendintousesofthe songas background
Onewayto do jt is to givehalfto thewdterofthe melody sceneor perhapsin an
musicfor a controversialfilm
and halfto the lyricist. Otherwritingpartnersawarda for
advert a productyoute not happyto be seento be
thirdfor lyrics,andthirdfor the top-lineand a thirdfor the en0orsrng.
restof the music.

Butit'6up to thewritersto decidewhatiheyfeelis fair. Problems

The integrityrightis messyfof tlvoreasons.Firctly,
althoughyou can'tsignawayyourmoralrightsas such,
Bands mostpublishers willwantyouto signa waiverwhichgives
Whenit comesto bands,thissortofthingcancausehuge themthe righttoputyoursongforwardfor prettymuch
tensions. any use,whichcan effectively be the samething.

Thecopyrightin the songsis whatgeneralesmostofthe In practise,

allofthe publishers
we'vespokento saythat
moneyin music,Youcanend up withone or two theywouldalwayscheckwithan artistbeforeauthorising
memberswhoare rakingit in,whilethe non-writing the useoftheirworkin a questionable
filmor advert.But
membersare stillbroke. it verymuchdependson yourcontractandthe publishing
company.
It'sespecially contentiouswitha band,wherethe bass
player,for example,maywritethe basslinebutnot get a Semndly,bigusersof music,likethe BBChaveblanket
creditas a writer.Thisis becausecopyrightonlyapplies agreements societiesand publishers.
withcollection This
to actualsongs,notarrangements.So writinga bass- meansthattheycan usewhatevermusictheyneedand
lineordrum partdoesn'tautomatically granta sharein paymentsafteMards.
repoftthe usagefor aoyalty
the righlsof the song.
Thereis a clausebuiltintotheseagreements sayingthat
Somewell-known bandscredjleverymemberon every theymustseekpermission ifthe usageis 'contentious'-
songso thateachreceivesan equalroyalty.Othershave perhapsit'san exceptionally violentscene- but it'srather
usedvotingsystemsto decidehowbig a contribution a vagueterm.
eachmembermadeto eachsong.Andsome,famously,
havechosennotto be 60 generous. Forexample,if you?evehemently and your
anti-smoking
songis usedin a waythat'sapparentlyendorsing
tobacco,you mightfeelthat'sa derogatory
use.Butifthe
Publishingand Copyright programme producersmokes,theymightnotthinktwice
Publishersare companieswhichadminister the dghtsof and useit withoutseekingpermission.
writers.(Theyalsoplacesongswithartistsso if you have
a tuneyouwantsomeoneelseto cut,theytethe people
you neeo.) Copyrightin Recordings
Thesecondformofcopyrighlis the copyrightin a sound
Whenwriterssigna publishing deal,theysignthe rights recording,
whichis separatefromthe copyrightin the
to thehsongsoveato lhe publishing
company. song.

The publisher
willthencollectmechanic€l
royalliesand Thinkof it thisway,if a bandrecordsa songand releases
somepeformanceroyaltieson behalfofthewriter. it thenthereis a copyrightin thatrecording.

Thentheypasslhe royaltieson to the writer,minusa lftheythenrecordand releaseanotherversion- maybea

commission
for theirtrouble. liveversionfor a B-side- the newrecordingis a separate
copyright.
ThentheycouldcomeintoRadio1 or'1xtra
There'smoreon publishing
on the Onel\rusic
site.Seethe and recorda sessionfor broadcast. Thiswouldbe yet
Management and Moneysectionofthe HowTo ... area anothercopyrightrecording.

iii1r 15;. eriarntleoi a ar::]11.:1.r::1a3. Illrre.r€ lords n..ire,i y/w\"?.bbc

ro.uki!rd141;arenrsic
Butthere'sstillonlyonesong- one setof musicand lyrics singerrightdownto the guywhosteppedin to playbass
- and henceonlyone mpyrightin the song. at the lastminute,is duefor a royaltyfor the useoftheir
perfotmance.
So one songcangeneratemanycopyrightrecordings.
Youcanclaimthisroyaltybyjoiningor registering with
one ofthe publicperformance collection
societies,
AURA,
Who owns it PAI\4RA or PPL,whicharethe subjectoftheirownguides
Thecopyrightin the soundrecordingautomatically in the HowTo...sectionof the Onelrusicsite
belongsto the personor organisation
that'madethe
arangements'to makethe recoding.
Ihis seclionms pul togetherwiih lhe helpof enleitainmentlawyer
fi,|anin
DellerotNo,thrcpMcNaughlan Dellersolicitors.
lt is intended
as
Fora singleoralbumtrack,thiswouldusuallybe the geneEliniomaliononlyandis notlo betEalodorr€li6duporas
recordcompanythat paidfor the session. speciiclegalor @mme6ialadvice.Specinc prcfessional legaladvice
shouldbe takenbeforeany coue of aciionis pursuedin relationlo the
infomation. Neither
theBBCnorNorthrop McNaughian Delleraccepl
That'snot 100%guaranteed though,andthere'llusually any€sponsibiliiyforany lossordamagearisinglbm anyinformation on
be a clausein the recordingcontractclaimingthe
justto be sure.lf youare a labelowner,you
copyright,
shouldmakesurethatyou includea clauselikethatin
yourconlrarcls.
Otherlinks& resources
Thisis howthe recordcompanies maketheirmoney- by
payingfor recordings
andthenexploitingtheirrightsas ilore from OneMusic
the ownersofthe copyrightin them. Howto ... Managementand Money
http:/rww.bbc.co.uUradiol/onemusic/managemenv

The differencebelweenthe copyrights HowTo ... Legaland Contracts

Themaindifference is the waythatthe two copyrights http://www.bbc.co.r.rldradiol/onemusic/legaU
generateroyalties.
Likethe copyrightin songs,copyrights
alsogenerateroyaltieswhenthey'replayed
in recordings HowTo ... StartingOut
in public. http://www.bbc.co.uUradiol/onemusidgtartingouU

So if Radio1 playsa singleon air,the writersofthe song HowTo ... GetYourMusicOut

geta royaltyforthe useof theircopyrightwork. httpJ/www.bbc.m.uk/radiol
/onemusic/distribution/

Theirrecordcompanywillalsoget a rcyaltyforthe useof 1XMusic:PromoteYourM!sic

theircopyrightrecording. http:/rww.bbc.co.uld
1xtra/1xmusic./promotion/

Butif we bringthe artistin to performthe songliveon air, Morcfrom elsewhere

thena royaltyis onlypaidto thewritersofthe song. MCPS-PRS Alliance
Collectsmechanicaland performance
royaltiesfor writers
There'sno recordingbeingplayed,so there'sno royalty 020 7580 5544
paidto the label. writerquery@mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk
www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk
Live music Phonographic Performance Ltd.(PPL)
lf an act goeson tour,thewritersoftheirsongsmayalso Collectroyaltieson behalfoflabelsand performers
for
get royaltiesfor the publicperformance ofthek songs. publicuseof recordings:
Again,there'sno recording and 9o no royaltyis payableto o20 7534 1234
a recordcompany. team@ukperformerservices.com
Thisis especiallyimportantif you'rea rapper.lfyou get
up in a clubandfreestyle,you'restillwritinga lyricand it's Musicians Union
beingperformedlive.So ifyoute a memberof PRS,you Providesfreelegaladviceandotherservicesfor its
maybe ableto claima royaltyon yourlyric,eventhough members
it's neverbeenwrittendownor recofded, 020 75825566
info@musiciansunion.org.uk
www.musiciansunion.org.uk
Perfo.rners'Rights
So farwe havetwo areasofcopyright.Thecreativebit - LawSociety
the wods and music- andthe physicalbit - the recording. Helpwithfindinga lawyer,includinga searchengine
There'salsoa thkdareato thinkabout. lawsociety.org.uldchoosingandusing/fi
ndasolicitor.law
Theseare PerformersRights-lf a recordis playedin
public,theneveryonewho playedon it, fromthe lead @2004BBCRadio1 Onel\4usic.

ll:s i: ;r exarp1: ai :i *ie':rgla :rlCa. ;aafe afe lcex! ,'cra ;: t*&'.!ar.::l}.ai{/l:i:lcliJraia,,rsLc