While musicians know the copyright laws regarding someone using their music or video productions, the public may be less familiar but they need to know these laws so they do not unknowingly violate them. Fusion 360 is an award-winning production house and digital advertising agency that knows and abides by copyright laws.
Music and video productions are copyrighted immediately after their creation. Creation happens when the lyrics or music is recorded or written down on paper, but the owner of the music needs to register the work.
Music ownership includes the right to reproduce, alter and perform the music. An owner can also display, distribute and sell copies of the work, add visual graphics to it, and permit others to do any of the aforementioned things.
Copyright does not end when the owner dies. Copyright typically ends 70 years after the author’s death.
When a “work for hire” musician creates a piece of music for a business, the business retains copyright of it for 95 years from the time it was first published or for 120 years from the date of its creation, whichever expires first.
There are also special rules in place for people who want to perform a version of a copyrighted song. They have to pay a set rate to the copyright owner to acquire “mechanical rights” to use the music.
Finally, it is important to know that a “poor man’s copyright” is not good copyright protection. You may have heard that the date of creation for a copyright law can be established by mailing yourself a copy of the work and keeping it in a sealed envelope, but that type of copyright will not stand up in court. The best way to ensure that your work is copyrighted is to register it with the United States Copyright Office. This information is important to all businesses that do video productions.
Knowing the copyright laws will help you if you ever copyright a piece of music or someone uses a piece that you have already copyrighted. If you need to make a video with music overlaid but don’t know how to handle copyright laws, contact us at Fusion 360 for any extra help you might need.
