Part I: Decoding Digital Publishing:
A breakdown of today’s sound publishing landscape
https://medium.com/@Vinylmint/decoding-digital-publishing-ed56262c3260
Part II: Copyrights, Trademarks and General Music Business Information
Texas Music Office
https://gov.texas.gov/music/page/genbus
I think that these two articles have been extremely informative . The first giving us information about copyrights, trademarks, and licensing. Letting us know about what they all mean. The second giving us the information and contacts to use here in the state of Texas. I felt like this was a great recap of what was discussed during last Thursday’s meeting.
I am attaching a video that helped me understand music copyrighting a lot better. Check it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtp43VGk4b0
While the first article was a tedious read, it was also saturated with crucial legal information pertinent to all who wish to one day manage, write, or produce music. I found it interesting that licensing practices pre-1972 were essentially the same as those after that year, but all sound recordings before then are not protected under the U.S. Copyright Act. I found an article that came out after “Decoding Digital Publishing” that addresses the 2018 unanimous vote in Congress to overhaul Section 115 of the U.S Copyright Act. You can read the full story at:
https://payorplay.foxrothschild.com/tag/the-harry-fox-agency/
I preferred the second link to the first, since it is a resourceful page that offers access to the main websites for securing copyrights, trademarks, and more. I bookmarked it for future reference when I have a reason to click on one of the links. I found a Youtube link that takes you through the process, step by step, on how to correctly copyright your own music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt-lU9yHC4Y
While both of these articles provided a lot of useful information about music licensing and copyrights, I feel that the first article was way too detailed in its explanation leaving me a bit confused. I understand the difference of licenses, but some real life examples would have been greatly appreciated!
While doing some research to help clarify my understanding, I found an article on posting cover songs to Youtube. I found this article interesting because many people post cover songs. Even people who just do it for fun and not as a possible career move. So I was very interested to read about the licensing requirements for Youtube covers.
This article explains that Youtube already has agreements with some artists for covers of their songs. Although it doesn’t tell you which artists and which songs. None the less it’s a helpful example of when and what type of copyright licenses a person would need, and how it is applied to the situation.
This article has 2 parts:
Part 1:
https://www.musicindustryhowto.com/need-permission-make-song-cover-truth-revealed/
Part 2:
https://www.musicindustryhowto.com/how-to-get-a-synchronization-license-for-youtube-cover-songs/
There’s no arguing against all of this licensing business. It might have given me a headache or two at first, but it’s all there for a good reason when you really think about it. I looked further into music licensing, specially as an artist, and ran into some more information regarding adding helpful “must-do’s” before you listing your music (in the link below). I know what more I’m doing next time!
https://www.tunecore.com/blog/2017/07/must-5-things-licensing-music.html
Both articles are filled with valuable information for anyone looking into the business of music. While it can all appear to be a little much, it is important for those in the business to become familiar with it all in order to avoid some serious consequences. One part that is intriguing to me is that licenses are required for even small bands just casually playing covers in a random bar. I never would have thought that was necessary.
For those confused by all the information, I found an article that breaks down five of the most important things to know about copyrights in music.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/03/11/music-copyright-basics/
These articles, especially the first one, kind of blew my mind, figuratively of course. I’m extremely glad I was allowed the pleasure of taking this class, simply because of how much about the music industry I did, and still do not, know.
The first article helped me to understand that there are so many people involved when one person is trying to get licensing or publishing rights. All of these people are making money, and it really helps me to be able to slow down and have an actual guide to all of the work that occurs behind the scenes.
The second article helped me to truly understand the difference between “Copyright” and “Trademark”, which is something I had trouble understanding before.
Below is a link which gives a bit more history on Copyright laws and even talks a bit about the “Mickey Mouse Protection Act”.
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2010/04/08/copyright-and-wrong
As many of my classmates stated, i found the first article to be quite the boring read to be honest and i found it losing my attention at many points. The second one however presented the material in a much more organized manner that was easier to follow.
However, despite this the importance of the information about copyright law to protect both the artist and the work are extremely important to be well verse on. I found this video by Crash Course, an educational YouTube channel that covers the topic in multiple videos, here is just one going over the background and the other essentials of copyright law.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tamoj84j64I
I found the first article to be extremely informative. One thing that caught my eye was the amount of money some licensing fees can cost. The article says that they can occasionally reach more than $1 million, and that prompted me to look further into the costs of some songs. Below is an article that lists 10 “very expensive songs” and the cost needed to license them.
https://www.eurweb.com/2015/01/10-very-expensive-songs/
Although, the rules and regulations of copyrights are very technical, the information in both sites are crucial for music business. I’ve learned that not only does this knowledge prevent you from a lawsuit, it can help you and everyone else involved in getting paid the right amount of royalties.
This article helped break it down for me.
https://stem.is/music-publishing-101/
When dealing with songs and playing music you never really think about all the things that go in to it. For example, you’re in a Starbucks and they are playing a song; they had to go through a lot to be able to play that particular song in their shop. Such as, licensing, what type of licensing, the rights, and the rights of the sound recording. A lot of legitimates plays into music and songs being played. Both of the articles go in to detail about the specifics of music rights. Yes, they are very complex but it is imperative that you know the guidelines in order to successfully publish and license music.
Here is a video on the basics of Music Copyright and Publishing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqN2qGISREI
With the wealth of information provided in both articles, one aspect that stood out to me was the idea of copyright infringement for recorded music. More specifically the cases where an artist claims another song is too closely related to their song that came out prior. I was curious into how the copyright infringement is assed and dealt with.
I found this website created and ran by students at Columbia Law School and The USC Gould School of Law, that documents music copyright cases. The site has documented cases from all spectrums of music law. I actually read through the case report from 2010, between Pharrell Williams and David and Peter Currin. This case in particular helped me understand how a court case involving infringement between two songs being closely related is treated. It was interesting to see how the case was presented and the final verdict of the case.
On top of having documented cases, the website also provides information on basic music concepts. They have definitions for music terms like “Major/Minor” and “Melody”. This is definitely a key resource to better understand how music copyright law works in real cases.
Here is the link to the cite, check it out! http://mcir.usc.edu/cases/2010-2019/Pages/currin.html
In the article “Decoding Digital Publishing” medium breaks down every part of commercial music that involves publishing rights, copyrights, licensing and who can control those rights. Which all depends on how the copyrighted music will be used.
For instance, if a normal person takes their mobile phone out and starts live streaming a video on any social media platform of a musical performance that has copyrighted music in it, the live stream video will more than likely be marked or removed due to the copyright infringements on the music being live-streamed from your social media platform.
Here is an article further detailing how not to get flagged on Facebook for copyrighted music. https://www.switcherstudio.com/blog/copyright-rules-for-facebook-live-video-how-to-not-get-flagged
There seems to be no reason why artists and performers can protect themselves. I’ve recently found myself in a situation where future licensing and past intellectual property may be at risk. As a musician, you create collaborations between others, and sometimes those collaborations work out more like the titanic than the well oiled machine you’d like to see. In the end, when a group disbands, who protects the members and the material? That’s why even on a basic level, an agreement should be reached before material is released. This can help protect the musicians without the need to get into a legal review of who owns property. I found this article to help explain more:
https://medium.com/@adamcolefreedman/what-happens-when-your-band-breaks-up-why-you-need-a-band-agreement-and-major-issues-to-address-a5de7b43a4ef
These articles are very informative in the breakdown of the music industry. Though they are both extremely specific and detailed in essence, I see how my classmates have mentioned being a bit confused in their posts. Dr. Renard is very informative and knows all this stuff like the back of his hand. He will explain in more detail the purpose of copyrights, trademarks, music licensing, etc. I think it is really interesting how the whole “music licensing” is a thing here in the US, but not in other countries, so China can legally use US produced music without having a license or any specific laws to it.
This site talks about foreign rights and royalties in licensing overseas http://www.musicbizacademy.com/articles/foreignlicensing.htm
The first article left me feeling very overwhelmed by all the different protocols to follow for the many different types of scenarios in which a copyrighted song is used, however that being said, it did provide a full explanation. While the second article might’ve been easier to read and understand, there also were some details that might’ve been left out because of it’s simplicity. For example, the only the first article explained that in order to use a song that sampled another copyrighted work in a music video, not only is a sample license required for the original recording but a sync license to have the sample in an audiovisual work.
I found it interesting how the label-signed artist’s permission for song use was relevant in the first article considering that most labels nowadays practically own the music itself and, unless the artist is a big time name, give the artist a shy percentage of their work’s revenue.
Up until reading these two articles, I have not fully comprehended all that goes into music licensing. There is so much to take into consideration when handling the legalities of copyrighting music. All of the different licenses ensure that all music on any platform can be protected. Specifically, the Texas Music Office website links many resources for copyrights and trademarks.
Since the emergence of digital platforms, however, there has been a struggle to adjust licensing and royalties. Because of this, there has been a push to reform copyright laws. Here is an article that dives in to further detail on this topic:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/billrosenblatt/2018/02/25/the-big-push-to-reform-music-copyright-for-the-digital-age/#4571a4ac2d6d
Both articles were very helpful in helping me understand the copyrights surrounding the publishing of music.While it helped recap and reinforce what we learned last class, I felt that I still wanted to know about more aspects. While reading the first article I came across the section about Harry Fox Agency. We talked about it in class but I still felt the need to look further in depth.
Check out this link to learn more about the Harry Fox Agency.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Fox_Agency
Reading both articles make you think about the bigger picture when it comes to music. Never really notice that the music industry is very business orient and you have to be very careful and have the right resources. Learning about needing copyrights and licensing can be a lot of information to understand but the main thing to have these is not to get screwed in the business.
I found an article that went into little more depth Music Industry survival guide https://www.tunecore.com/guides/sixrights
It is very important that all of us in the music industry know how to copyright our own music or if we want to be part of management, that we know how we can help our artist copyright and license their music so they can get paid for everything. The only way a composer or artist can keep getting paid through their work is if they protect their music and own it. The artist doesn’t actually own his work until he copyrights it and licensees it is because someone else can take his work and claim it as theirs. It’s like using plagiarism, someone else can take the work and take the credit but you have your name and logo attached to it then you can claim it. You’d be able to claim the money and maybe even some fame. Here’s an article why music licensing is easy if you do it right:
https://www.easysonglicensing.com/pages/help/articles/copyright-law/how-to-copyright-your-music.aspx
Both articles were interesting and gave a lot of information on more of the back end of the music industry but the second article was a little more straight forward. It went in depth with copyrights, preforming rights affiliation, trademarks, etc, and explained what all has to be done to fully prepare a song for release. What I found most interesting was how much the music industry is tied to federal entities due to trademarks and such. Regulations are good for keeping everyone on the same page but can sometimes limit artists and the industry.
Here a link to Forbes article that discuss more of how the federal government limits artist due to various laws and regulations.
Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2016/03/18/regulations-are-killing-the-songwriting-stars/#4a11da01364d
Both of these article were very informative and interesting. The Texas Music Office discussed copyright and trademark in the music industry and how to obtain each. Some of these of processes seem rather involved so I see why it is important to protect these licenses. While reading Medium’s article, they mentioned not needing a license to use recordings of music if the pieces had entered public domain but I feel like there is sometimes issues with this. Especially when you look at the reason EUCD amendments that have been under contention, you can see where things get confusing. For example, one article tried to enforce copyright filters for internet content but filters like that, such as YouTube’s Content ID system, have been faulty and troublesome in the past. I found an article where one music theory professor in Germany had trouble working with public domain pieces due to this system from YouTube and he even went to the lengths of performing experiments to see just how broken it can get. Time and time again, this professor had difficulty uploading public domain works without his content being flagged as copyright.
You can read more about this situation here: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/xwkbad/this-music-theory-professor-just-showed-how-stupid-and-broken-copyright-filters-are
Both articles provided a great outline of the music industry’s functional parts. I was pretty surprised to find out that most artists usually sell their rights to the song away even though they’re getting paid. I also found it interesting that Harry Fox Agency has a spanish branch of their company, as it probably deals with the vastness of the latin music market that has been mentioned in class.
Here is information from a company themselves
https://www.tunecore.com/guides/basics-to-know
I found these links very informative because I literally just started writing music with a group I’ve been playing with for a while. It’s just funny how as soon as I start getting music ready to record the topic is music licensing. And it’s really interesting to see the massive amount of benefits that would come out of it and how simple it actually seems to be. When my group gets our recordings in order I will definitely come back to these articles for references.
Here’s a simple article that I found to get started when I’m looking to get my music licensed:
https://newartistmodel.com/how-to-license-your-music-4-steps-to-get-started/
After reading both articles I believe I now have a better understanding of copyrights and the importance of it for artists. The second article was much more “entertaining”, however after reading both articles I wanted to understand the importance of copyrights for indie artists that don’t have large resources compared to artists signed to major record labels. The following article details copyrights and publishing for indie artists: https://heroic.academy/indie-guide-music-copyright-publishing/
These articles explain the importance of obtaining proper permission when utilizing music for different reasons, and what type of license or copy rights are involved. This area is very specialized, and one should pay attention to detail when obtaining proper permission. The article describes some of the different areas such as mechanical license, sync rights, and performance, but there are many others that need to be scrutinized.
Here is a site that offers help in obtaining the proper permissions.
https://greenlightrights.com/rights-clearances
Unlike many of my classmates I enjoyed the first article by Medium. I thought the way it was organized was very clear and easy to understand. The second article on the Texas Music Office website was informative, but the way it was organized was too wordy best way to put it, I would have preferred if it was broken down more step by step. I did however learn a lot from both articles. I wanted to hear how it was for a publisher of a large label, like Warner Music Group, I found a video of Oronde Jenkins describing what a music publishing company does. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byRMJ_eiibc
I always thought the music industry was a simple trio of artist, managers and producers. The amount of components and small pieces that go into a successful career as an artist were shocking to me. Talent goes a long way but, the knowledge of the business and the process behind it is really what makes the difference between success and failure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B_fBJxkH6Y