What Exactly is a Music Copyright?

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What exactly is a music copyright? Think of a copyright as a bundle of exclusive rights. The exclusivity means that only you as the copyright owner may exercise those rights in your music, or authorize others to exercise them.

It's easy to copyright music. You have a valid copyright as soon as your original song or sound recording is fixed in a tangible medium of expression. That's a fancy term coined by music copyright law, and means that your song or sound recording must be written down or recorded. You don't need to register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office in order to have a valid copyright. However, registration does give you additional protection in the event someone infringes your work. For additional copyright information and to learn how to register your music copyrights, read the article, How to Copyright Songs and Sound Recordings

The Copyright Act provides for six exclusive rights. Which of those six exclusive rights a copyright owner has depends on the type of work or artistic creation involved. In this article, we'll look at the copyright owner's exclusive rights in songs and sound recordings. Let's start with a brief review of how a song differs from a sound recording.

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A single song may have several different sound recordings. For example, the song "Amazing Grace" has been recorded by a number of artists including Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley and Leontyne Price. The familiar melody and lyrics make up the song. Aretha Franklin's recorded performance of "Amazing Grace" is one sound recording; Elvis Presley's recorded performance of the song is a separate sound recording; and Leontyne Price's recorded rendition of "Amazing Grace" is still a third and distinct sound recording. That's three separate sound recordings for the same song.