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What can be copyrighted?

'Copyright' applies to any artistic or technical work, the design or content of which is original and the creation of an individual or team of individuals. It is a legal 'I made this' stamp for an item of work, as opposed to a patent which is an exclusive right to exploit an invention. Patents have to apply to 'things' - gadgets, gizmos, something physical that someone built. Copyright applies to 'work' - and that means original writings, music and artwork. 'Writings' covers everything from poems through song lyrics, novels, textbooks and computer programs (even this webpage is copyrighted under the category of 'writings'). 'Music' covers non-spoken audio; in essence we're talking tunes. It's not just the performance of a tune that's copyrighted - the tune itself is. If you write out a melody in dots form, or make it up for the first time on an instrument, you become the composer and have copyright of the tune itself, so you get to control (kinda) every future use of the tune, even if it's played on a different instrument. If you record a performance of some music even if you aren't the composer then you get copyright on that recording. It's like a car - you can own your own car, but the 'composer' is some guy in Detroit who drew the first one.

'Original' in copyright law means that the work was created by the person who claims copyright, and is in some way based on thoughts and ideas from that person. An item does not have to be UNIQUE to be copyrightable, nor does it have to be NEW. If you copy, word-for-word, the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody, then it's not your copyright as you haven't created anything original. If you take all the words, rearrange them into a different order and call it 'a poem about Scaramouche' then it's yours, even though you haven't actually invented any new words.

Clarification time.. it's important that you remember this for later:

• If you write a tune or lyrics, you're the composer/songwriter and you have copyright of them.
• If you play or sing your tune and record it, you have copyright of the recording as well.
• If you record someone else's tune, YOU have copyright of the recording. Usually you agree to split the deal with the artist, but their 'performance' CANNOT be copyrighted in itself.

Sidenote!: If you created the 'work' as part of paid employment (say you're a radio reporter at a concert, or you were paid by your boss to write a new tune for the phone on-hold system) then you usually don't get to keep the copyright, instead it becomes the property of your employer.

In order for something to be copyrighted, it must exist in a tangible form. For our purposes that means that lyrics or a musical score MUST be either written out on paper, or a performance of the piece recorded onto tape or CD. Having 'a tune in your head' is NOT copyrightable. It's also important to say that being illegal does not make something uncopyrightable! If you make a bootleg recording at a concert, you have copyright of the recording even though you can get prosecuted for making it. This means, in a strange twist of law, that if you illegally burn MP3 files from a CD then you own the copyright of the MP3 files even though you've infringed the copyright of the record label!

Copyright does not apply to words, short phrases or logos. Your band name (or your own) is NOT something you can copyright, but you can trademark it, which we'll cover in a later section.

In terms of online music there are two things that people are concerned with - digital audio and lyrics. Every digital audio file (DAF) is copyright to someone, and usually a few people. Lyrics on the other hand are copyright to the original songwriter and nobody else. A website posting a set of lyrics to a song is only slightly infringing copyright, but someone hosting a DAF can be infringing a whole host of copyrights, and so need a whole host of permissions. Most people know that if they upload an MP3 they'll be risking prosecution by someone, but getting permission to do it legally can often be more confusing than you think!

In terms of VIDEO, it matters a lot if that video is of a musical performance, or just.. well.. a movie. This is going to sound very strange but it's true, so take a moment to let this sink in. A video recording of a musical work is protected by licences and laws set up to deal with TV. You'll hear later in this site about a 'synchronisation license' and this is specifically for 'musical performances with accompanying visual images'. So that video of Good Charlotte looking moody and singing about love, life and hair gel is DIFFERENT to the video of them playing 1-on-1 in their front yard. If you're making music videos or you want to put a music video on your site, you need to read our special section on publishing music videos.

It's worth noting that this 'copyright' thing applies to a lot more than just the music performed by an artist. The photographs on their website, their interviews, the font they paid us to design, all of these are 'commercial property' and can't be just taken away and re-used without permission by a guy who has 15,000 plain black hoodies and a pot of paint. For some emerging bands, merchandise is a very important source of cash, and protecting yourself with copyrights and trademarks is very important. More on that later!