Essay on Copyright By Mohammed Sajid Introduction The music industry is going through a tough time at the moment.

Digital piracy of music has hit record company profits hard. Live venues are increasingly turning away from music to comedy which is seen as less hassle and more profitable. In order for musicians to survive and thrive in this environment, it is essential that they understand the importance of intellectual property rights. If someone is exploiting the work of a musician, they must ensure that they pay royalties. Royalties fall in the three main categories: performance, mechanicals, and syncs. Performance royalties are paid to a songwriter when a composition is performed in public, whether it is live or broadcast. The musicians who perform on a recording are also entitled to a royalty. Mechanical royalties are paid when a composition is sold in the form of a CD, DVD, download, etc. Syncs (short for synchronisation) are paid when a composition is used on the soundtrack of a radio or TV advert, TV programme, or movie. Background There are two main forms of intellectual property involved in the music industry. Copyright is the right of the creator to assert their ownership of original work, typically applied to recordings. Publishing rights revolve around the composition itself, ie the song and lyrics. This situation has come about due to the history of the music industry. Long before the recorded music industry, music publishers made profits by the sale of printed sheet music. Composers would make agreements with the publisher and earn royalties against copies sold. When the phonograph and radio became popular, publishers were also able to get a royalty for the sale of a record as well as payment for playback of that record. In the present day, this means that record companies seek to license the copyright of a sound recording in order to sell it. Publishing companies license the publishing rights and profit through the sale of sheet music as well as collecting royalty payments. These royalties can come from several different bodies, all known as collection agencies.

Collection Agencies PRS for Music PRS for Music is the amalgamation of two previously separate collection agencies, PRS (Performing Right Society) and MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society). PRS collects royalties whenever a composition is performed. This could be on radio, television, or at the movies. It also applies to live venues as well as businesses where the public listen to music eg cafes, hairdressers, etc. Outlets such as radio stations must log the music they play and pay royalties accordingly. Businesses that play music to the public such as cafes will pay an annual lump sum to get a blanket licence rather than log each song played. Composers need to be members of PRS for Music to benefit from these royalties. MCPS deal with mechanical copyright ie when music is recorded in some form for sale. They collect royalties when ever music is sold as a product, eg CD, DVD, vinyl, or download. Record companies must secure a licence from MCPS before they can legally sell music by MCPS members. PPL As well as the copyright of a composition ie lyrics and melody, there is also the copyright of a recording. PPL (Phonographic Performance Limited) collects royalties for the performance of recordings. This applies to broadcast media such as radio as well as businesses that play music to the public such as nightclubs and shops. The beneficiaries of these royalties are the musicians performing on a recording as opposed to the composer. Importance of Royalties To composers and musicians, royalties may be a significant source of revenue. Musicians do not normally observe typical working practices where they work a set number of hours and are paid a pre-agreed salary as a result. Therefore royalties are often the main source of income for many musicians. The importance of royalties can be seen if we contrast the UK, where there is a robust approach to royalty collection by the relevant agencies, with a country such as Russia that does not. Russia has traditionally had a lax approach to music piracy. During the Soviet years, so-called samizdat copies of music were widely distributed in defiance of state censorship. With the fall of Communism, CD pressing plants sprang up and made huge profits as a result. While Russia has laws on copyright, the authorities are very reluctant to act.

Now with the advent of digital music distribution, Russia plays host to many sites where users can access a vast catalogue of pirated music by paying a small fee. These sites often feature music before it has been officially released, making it even harder for legitimate sellers of digital music to make inroads into the Russian market. For example, the music of The Beatles was available digitally in Russia many years before it appeared for sale on iTunes. The current situation in Russia is that an estimated 80% of music consumed in urban areas and 40% in rural areas is pirated. The result of this is that domestic artists in Russia are seeing their record sales plummet and increasingly look to foreign markets for sales opportunities. Foreign acts often do not release at all in Russia and look to live concerts as their only significant source of income from that territory. Conclusion While the royalty collection system in the UK may appear to be onerous and bureaucratic, it does offer composers and musicians a realistic way to protect their intellectual property rights and earn a living as a result.