The Sound And Music Industry

Is important for anyone who has created any intellectual property to protect it. In the music industry, in order for someone to protect their work, they must obtain a copyright. Music has been around before anyone could obtain a copyright and when the invention of the computer came along it made it easier for someone to steal another artist's intellectual property with the help of the internet. This paper will cover what events have taken a big role in copyright protection for artist, the consequences if someone was to break the rules of a copyright which is called copyright infringement, and how will a copyright hold in the future. Were copyrights enacted without the thought of life changing technology, and how can some music companies

Michael R. Cohen, 25B WEST 'S LEGAL FORMS, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY § 23:22 (2014) (“Since it would be virtually impossible for publishers or songwriters to monitor and control the large numbers of users of their songs, the enforcement and control of such performance rights usually falls to one of three performing rights organizations ....”).

The music industry is made of companies which produce and sell music. The music industry as we know it was solidified in the mid-twentieth century, where records succeeded sheet music as the primary product in the music business. Record companies were established, but did not last very long until the late 1980s when the “Big Six”, a group of multinational corporations consisting of Sony, MCA, WEA, Polygram, EMI, and BMG controlled most of the market. Initially there were five corporations (CBS and RCA (both now belonging to Sony), WEA, EMI, and Polygram) that had emerged in 1978 to own 60 per cent of the market. (Wallis and Malm, 1984, p. 81)

The occupation or role that will be discussed is the publisher. Publishers take a song that has been already been composer and attempt to persuade various artists or producers to record the song. Publishers also register copyrights, file mechanical and performing rights to the respective organizations, audit record companies, and collect royalties and payment.

It is vital for a publishing company to register with all relevant collection societies, who would obtain royalties in the territory they operate in. In the United Kingdom, a music publisher will typically assign its rights to the Performing Right Society, who would collect all the public performance royalties on the publisher’s behalf. This is lucrative for publishers, as any space that is open to the public wanting to use music must acquire a public performance license.

Music Copyright is a very important aspect of the music industry. The Copyright law was established to preserve the creativity and rights of authors, composers, performers of expression. Copyright is the law that protects the property rights of the creator of an original work in a fixed tangible medium. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/copyright) A fixed tangible medium is something substantial like copying lyrics on paper or putting a song on tape or CD. Copyright can be seen every where in the music industry. Many music artist of our culture today have been involved in copyright issues. Recently, on MTV news it was stated that, "As the music industry becomes increasingly concerned about protecting the

Royalties for songs are paid out 50% to the writer and 50% to the copyright holder. For music publishing companies, there are three main types of deals that an artist can enter

Covering has become an important part of today’s musical world. A practice that started many decades ago, dating back to the 1940s and beyond, has become not only accepted but expected. It is a complex issue; however, as it raises issues such as the acknowledgment of the covered music as original art, the ethical questions the practice raises, and the relevance of the cover to popular music. Artists have covered songs for many years, and the practice has expanded drastically. Some artists cover songs performed by an artist covering other songs.

In recent years, the music industry has immensely changed from buying physical copies of an album to streaming songs online from services such as Apple Music and Spotify. The landscape of the music industry is slowly transforming due to listeners' transition from buying music to streaming music. Many think that these services are giving artists a run for their money, as less and less physical copies of their work are being sold. Due to this, artists are leaning to consider licensing out their music and corporate sponsorship. Yet many think that artists are "selling out" if they take this action. Yet, in the midst of the large upheaval, artists should be allowed to use their music for advertisement.

In 2013, 60.6% of Pandora’s revenue ($258.7 million) was given to licensing agencies, such as American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI), and SoundExchange as royalty fees that will be passed onto songwriters and singers (De Braganca, 2013). To address the royalty problem, Pandora implemented three different tactics to their business

Music is at our fingertips. We can turn on a radio or select a song on a menu and it

PRS for music (Performing Rights Society) represents songwriters and publishers, collects and distributes license fees when artist’s music has been performed or broadcast. MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society) which is also part of the PRS for music. MCPS collects and distributes license fees to writers and publishers when their music is released or sold on CD or as a download. PPL (Phonographic Performance LTD) collect and distribute royalties from recorded music to recording owners and performers when broadcast/ played in public.

The music industry is an oligopoly. Since the late 1800’s people like Thomas Edison have been buying up patents in communication technology, forming monopolies, leading to a non-competitive entertainment industry. With only a handful of corporations controlling all aspects of acquisition, distribution and marketing of music, harsh business principles create an exploitative industry that takes the best of what artists have to offer and leaves many of them unable to support themselves. Beginning in the 1950’s with payola and white cover music and ultimately evolving into iTunes and Spotify, the music industry has grown into a billion dollar industry with far-reaching influence and control. Contracts rarely serve the artists’ best interest and many are left out to dry when their usefulness has expired.

Over the past decade, the use of CDs has been replaced with online streaming and retailing. This has eliminated much of the record companies revenues as they were used to making most of their profit off of distribution and promotion of physical copies of artists albums (Niemen). This has caused for a major shift and remodeling of major players in the music industries business models. Companies such Sony, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group have started to completely rethink the way they conduct business (Forbes). In the past record labels were not only responsible for production, distribution and promotion of an artist and his/her music, but they also acted as a bank (Forbes), funding the artists tours and recording sessions. Recently, these music giants have been moving towards becoming more of a modular network organization. What this means is that they are less occupied with the nitty gritty, and more focused on what they do best which is distribution and promotion. This also allows for more freedom of creativity for the artist as well as fairer split of profits (Forbes). This adaption of new business models clearly shows the versatility of the music industry in adapting to new times and technologies.

Music licensing is certainly not the ideal solution to maintain the integrity of the art. Music licensing has created situation in which people actually have to pay to use folk songs such as "Happy Birthday" in certain circumstances. The company that owns the license to the song actually receives millions of dollars every year for a song that nobody knows who originally wrote. However, compensating artists for their works is a complicated endeavor and does not receive much public funding in a capitalist system. Therefore, even though the licensing practice may be counter-productive the art form and overly commercialized, it is a necessary evil that must be tolerated in modern society.