How Copyright Works: Musical Composition Copyright and Sound Recording Copyright | Berklee Online

In this video, Berklee Online course author E. Michael Harrington explains the difference between composition copyright and sound recording copyright. The composition goes from being what was in your head to being actual music, recorded by a band or orchestra. There’s a copyright for both the composition and how the overall sound is arranged. A song will always have two copyrights. You will get paid royalties for every use of a recording: vinyl, digital, etc. Dr. Harrington details some of the unusual specifics: If another artist covers your song and posts it online, theoretically the composer and record label will all get paid. If it’s played on FM radio, only the composer gets paid.

About E. Michael Harrington:
Dr. E. Michael Harrington is a professor in music copyright and intellectual property matters. He has lectured at many law schools, organizations, and music conferences throughout North America, including Harvard Law, George Washington University Law, Hollywood Bar Association, Texas Bar, Minnesota Bar, Houston Law Center, Brooklyn Law, BC Law, Loyola Law, NYU, McGill, Eastman, Emory, the Experience Music Project, Future of Music Coalition, Pop Montreal, and others. He has worked as a consultant and expert witness in hundreds of music copyright matters including efforts to return "We Shall Overcome" and "This Land Is Your Land" to the public domain, and has worked with director Steven Spielberg, producer Mark Burnett, the Dixie Chicks, Steve Perry, Busta Rhymes, Samsung, Keith Urban, HBO, T-Pain, T. I., Snoop Dogg, Collin Raye, Tupac Shakur, Lady Gaga, George Clinton, Mariah Carey, and others. He sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Popular Culture, advisory board of the Future of Music Coalition and the Creators Freedom Project, and is a member of Leadership Music. Michael has been interviewed by the New York Times, CNN, Bloomberg Law, Wall Street Journal, Time, Huffington Post, Billboard, USA Today, Rolling Stone, Money Magazine, Investor's Business Daily, People Magazine, Life Magazine, and Washington Post, in addition to BRAVO, PBS, ABC News, NBC's "Today Show," the Biography Channel, NPR, CBC and others. He teaches Music Business Capstone and Music Licensing courses at Berklee Online, and is the course author and instructor for Music Business Law, part of the curriculum for Berklee Online’s Master of Art in Music Business degree.

About Berklee Online:
Berklee Online is the continuing education division of Berklee College of Music, delivering online access to Berklee's acclaimed curriculum from anywhere in the world, offering online courses, certificate programs, and degree programs. Contact an Academic Advisor today:
1-866-BERKLEE (US)
1-617-747-2146 (international callers)

Copyright Law | E. Michael Harrington | Composition Copyright | Copyright Infringement | Composition and Sound Recording Copyright | Music Business | Berklee Online | Berklee College of Music | Music Business Law

[ranalidana]

Hi.

I've got a lot of songs/albums and I'm editing their tags using the program "Mp3tag"
(This program has a lot of editable tags for songs.)
And also inside this app, there are 3 important tags that I'm so confused about them!
"Label", "Copyright", "Publisher"

On the back cover of the albums (into CD Jewel Case) there are a few Copyright Symbols that I want to add to the tags of my songs. But I don't know exactly where they should be added.

Album #1

© 2002 Sony Music Entertainment.
℗ 2002 Sony Music Entertainment.
Manufactured By Epic. A Divison of Sony Music.

Album #2

© 2010 Little Dume Recordings.
℗ 2010 RCA Records, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment. Under licence from The Sony Music Custom Marketing Group, a division of Sony Music Entertainment.

Should I insert both of © & ℗ in the Copyright field or not?

Should I insert the ℗ in the Publisher or Label field?

Please explain to me simply, clearly & completely.

Thanks.

[JunipersQuest]

So if I do a fan cover for my favorite band (Heilung) do covers need permission from the band before recording the cover yourself?

[auggiebendoggy]

From the website - "To register both the sound recordings and the musical (or other) works contained on the sound recordings, select “Sound Recording” - it seems if you use SOUND RECORDING you are also copyrighting the song, not just the recording, whereas if you use WORK OF PERFORMING ARTS, you are only copyrighting the song. I have a song where the performance was really really good but my main goal is to copyright the song. I'm guessing use SOUND RECORDING to have both the song and the recording copyrighted? Is that right?

[fredcarroll]

Maybe I missed it what I'm trying to figure out is the sound recording considered a complete work protection meaning is it completely protected with just the sound recorder

[chuckkhubbard]

If a song is composed by one team and performed for the first time by someone else, are the composers still the only ones who get any money from AM/FM airplay? Or is this specifically when a song is recorded for the second (3rd, etc.) time?
I mean, Sinatra and Elvis, for example, had enormous airplay, but didn't write most of their songs. Did they get no money for the airplay?

[papa_da_engineer]

Thank you so much. I watch all of your videos, so insightful and helpful 🙏✊✌✌

[johnalver]

I agree with copyrighting a melody and lyrics set to a particular melody but how can someone copyright a rythem, that's just madness

[RawGuruRecords]

In your example, when does the great cover version contributors get paid when people end up liking that song?

[jmoneydachosen]

What if u leased the beat but lyrics are yours

[susankande]

This is such a helpful video, short and clear, thank you! 🙏

[popfinch]

Thank you very much for this "series" of videos about copyright. I have a question though (it might be a dumb one, but ok). Is it possible/worth/smart to copyright a demo recording of a song you wrote with a professional copyright institution, just so you can protect it? The thing is, I wrote a bunch of songs in the past years but I cannot afford (yet) to go into a studio and record them with a good sound quality, so I end up not releasing any of the songs because I only have home made recordings and It doesn't feel moraly correct to try to sell home made demos (mind you that I also have no studio at home). Another thing is that some of those songs I wrote are intended to be pitched to other artists.. should I copyright them first before trying to pitch them? I'm a little bit confused about this. Thank you very much in advance!

[ctnicetune]

So if I wrote and played a song to post on Youtube but wanted to protect myself completely would I need two registrations? One for Performing and one for Sound? thanks in Advance!

[Music-vcmq]

thank you for the information, E.Micheal....
so what i understand one has to need two seperate copyright one for song and one for sound recording..its not possible to get copyright for song and sound recording just getting copyright for sound recording....last but not least what about instrumental work do they need the same....thanks...

[MeshMusicUK_Official]

So is it fair to say that one is the "Intellectual Property Copyright" (The initial idea) and the "Recording Copyright", the copyrights of use of the musical composition as a whole?

[Rdolson]

Hello, I recorded 8 songs all original but in standard blues formats 12 bar stuff with my band at the time I paid all the costs but did not have the band sign release forms a year later the drummer told me i could no longer use his drum parts so we had them taken out and replayed now he says I've broken copyright laws for removing his parts??? help please