October 28, 2021 If you’ve based your knowledge of music copyright in China on the first thing your Google search came up with without checking more sources, it may be you have perhaps felt suspicious about distributing your music to China. We have now started the process of updating the information on wikipedia. In the meantime, let us give you an overview of the current situation regarding music copyright in China.
February 19, 2021 The need for legal protection is much more critical in this technological age characterized by piracy. The good thing is that the law protects you to ensure that no one uses creativity illegally. If you and your friends want to start a band, you need to know your right and place in the constitution. Here is some legal protection that you need.
Advice, Copyright, Legal Advice, Publishing tagged Copyright, Legal, publishing January 5, 2021 Several clients of mine have brought this to my attention, so I thought I would address it here.
It appears that on January 1, 2021, Spotify enacted a massive, global takedown of music from thousands of independent artists. Upon information and belief, some 750,000 songs were removed, the vast majority of which appear to have used Distrokid for distribution.
Indie, Legal Advice, Streaming tagged Music, distrokid, indie artists, spotify February 25, 2020 Under US copyright law, copyright (literally, the right to make and sell copies) automatically vests in the creator the moment the expression of an idea is “fixed in a tangible medium” (in other words, the moment you write it down, type it or record it). With respect to music specifically, there are actually two copyrights: a copyright in the musical composition or song owned by the songwriter and a sound recording copyright in the sound of the recording owned by the recording artist (but usually transferred to the record company when a record deal is signed). It is important to remember that you own the copyright in your work the moment you write it down or record it, and you can only transfer those rights by signing a written agreement to transfer them. Therefore, you must be wary of any agreement you are asked to sign.
DIY, Legal Advice tagged Copyright, DIY, contracts, trademarks July 15, 2019 A trademark is a name, slogan or logo which identifies someone’s goods or services and indicates source or quality. The purpose of a trademark is to identify and distinguish one person’s products or services from those of another. A trademark functions as a symbol of quality and goodwill. Trademark rights accrue to the owner of a mark based on the “use” of a mark and these rights vest in the first user of a mark when the mark is used in connection with the trademark owner’s goods or services. In other words, you own rights in your trademark from the moment you start using it to identify your products or services These rights are applicable in the music business to the names used by rock groups, DJs, and rappers as well as by management, production and record companies.
Legal Advice tagged entertainment lawyers, trademarks December 12, 2018 Look through your local gig listings and chances are you’ll find as many tribute bands and singers as there are original acts. Their popularity continues to grow and not just in smaller venues. Some are able to fill the largest sites like Wembley Arena and the O2. The Australian Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin Experience, Bootleg Beatles and Hollywood U2 are examples of successful tribute bands that have performed thousands of shows across the globe, year after year. These acts have earned their success by replicating the original band’s music to a very high standard, as well as providing an exciting visual performance alongside the sonic conventions.
Cover Band, Legal Advice tagged Copyright, Legal, cover bands, tribute bands November 8, 2018 If you’re an active musician who enjoys payment in any way, you’ll probably have to do taxes eventually. Unless you’re giving all of your music and merchandise for free, you may have already missed an important amount of work that could get you in trouble with the government. That’s normal — musicians don’t always think about it, happy their art is finally making back more than what they’re putting in. But eventually, it needs to be addressed.
See, when you have a band, in a lot of ways you are running your own small business. You are selling a product, no matter how much integrity you have in putting it together. And where there’s a profit, there’s taxes to be done and records to be kept. If you don’t get this taken care of, it could ruin your band/music later.
Legal Advice tagged Legal, accounting, band money, bookkeeping, taxes November 6, 2018 Here we compile and analyse information about the type of contracts that studio producers and sound engineers are likely to require as part of their work. Our objective is to clarify when and under which circumstances sound engineers are entitled to ownership of copyright and when a one-off fee will suffice.
October 31, 2018 The Music Modernization Act (“MMA”) is now the law of the land. The MMA is comprehensive and sweeping in its scope. The MMA revamps Section 115 and repeals Section 114(i) of the U.S. Copyright Act. It creates a public data base to facilitate and expedite payments to songwriters and it overhauls the rate Court system and changes the standard for setting rates to a free market standard. The MMA also incorporates several other major pieces of legislation including the CLASSICS Act (Compensating Legacy Artists for their Songs, Service, & Important Contributions to Society Act) which grants copyright protection to pre-1972 sound recordings so songwriters and artists can receive royalties on pre-1972 recordings and the AMP Act (or Allocation for Music Producers Act), which improves royalty payouts for producers and engineers from SoundExchange when their recordings are used on satellite and online radio.
September 20, 2018 When enacted, it serves to prevent the illegal sharing, misuse or distribution of that content through unauthorized mediums. But, what does that mean exactly and what or who does it cover? Let’s take a deeper look.
Copyright, Legal Advice tagged Copyright, Legal, copyrighted music June 19, 2018 You’ve read these tour articles a thousand times — I’ve written plenty of them. By this point it’s no surprise that touring is hard. It’s no surprise that touring is expensive. And it’s no surprise that making your money back doesn’t often happen for DIY bands on their first couple of trips.
That said however, there are legalities to consider. A band is a business, whether you want it to be or not. A tour is a venture. And musicians are people who bring their own lives and difficulties to the table. So when you’re looking to tour, consider some of the legal problems that could stop you from being able to fully experience or continue to tour in the future!
Legal Advice tagged Legal, band tour, cops, going on tour, how to tour April 10, 2018 Contracting with minors in the entertainment industry can be a legal minefield. From talent bookers and modeling agencies to technology start-ups and other computer software companies, the predicament of employing or contracting with a party under the age of eighteen has become an increasing problem. The minor is not bound by the contract and may disaffirm the contract at any time during minority or within a reasonable time after reaching majority. Without a valid written agreement the employment is “at will” under the law of most States which means the minor can depart at any time. The dilemma created by a minor’s ability to disaffirm a contract is that it may seriously jeopardize the employer’s financial investment in the services of the minor whether it is the ongoing efforts of an agency to develop the career of a young talent or the technology company’s expectation that is owns the copyright in the code created by the teenage whiz kid it employs.
Advice, Legal Advice tagged contracts, minors February 6, 2018 The stage is set for a brutal tug-of-war over tens of millions of dollars between individual songwriters and their publishers. H.R. 4706, also known as the Music Modernization Act, provides many benefits and updates to the arcane royalty structure of US copyright law. However, there are some provisions concerning unclaimed and unmatched monies which, as currently drafted, could lead to a myriad of problems for creators.
Advice, Legal Advice, Songwriting tagged Copyrights, Legal, Songwriters, copyright law January 25, 2018 1976 Copyright Act provides for the termination of copyright transfers – but authors need to act within a limited timeframe. Creators are entitled to reclaim their copyrights regardless of any contract stating otherwise after certain time periods. Therefore, even if an author, artist, musician, photographer or songwriter signed a contract which purports to transfer all rights in a work for perpetuity, the Copyright Act provides that the author of the work can terminate that grant and demand that the rights revert. Authors and creators are now entitled to terminate their contractual transfers and demand back control of their copyrights; authors can terminate their book publishing contracts, songwriters can demand return of their musical compositions from music publishers and recording artists and record producers can demand return of their sound recordings from the record companies.
Advice, Legal Advice tagged Advice, Copyright, Legal, artist rights, contracts, publishing, rights 