Basic Music Copyright questions answered

ProCopy as a reproducer of peoples musical and other works often gets asked to explain about copyright. Here are some basic points as per the guidelines set down by APRA & AMCOS (further information can be gained from their website at www.amcos.com.au )

There are two separate rights or ownerships associated with a musical work - the sound recording, and the associated underlying musical work. When either of these are performed or reproduced, a royalty is incurred. 

PPCA - Collects royalties for the Performance of Sound Recordings 
ARIA - Collects royalties for the Reproduction of Sound Recordings 

APRA - Collects royalties for the Performance of Musical Works 
AMCOS - Collects royalties for the Reproduction of Musical Works 

This grid shows you which organisation is responsible for the collection of each instance of copyright. 

Copyright Administration Companies Australia

To explain the difference between sound recordings and musical works, take the example of Hey Jude, by the Beatles. If you were to make and sell a CD featuring the recording of the Beatles performing that song that was originally sold to the public, you would have two copyright responsibilities: to pay a royalty to the owners of the sound recording, in other words that particular version of the song (which would be owned by a record label and administered by ARIA). The other responsibility would be towards the underlying musical work - the arrangement of music and lyrics owned by songwriters/publishers, and administered by AMCOS. 

Now if you were to hire a group of musicians to come into a studio and perform a cover version of that song, rather than use the original, you would not need to seek permission from ARIA in order to make that reproduction, as a new sound recording is being made, of which you are the owner. You would still need to pay a royalty to AMCOS however, as you are making a reproduction of a musical work. 

In short, musical works are the compositions themselves; sound recordings are mechanical versions of those compositions. Sampling of small sections of music is also covered by copyright, please see our other articles on that matter.

 

Why is copyright important?

ProCopy is liaising with many copyright bodies in Australia such as AMCOS, APRA, ARIA and MIPI in order to help formulate plans that encompass the digital download age.

We have a couple of documents courtesy of MIPI that cover Sampling Music issues and Music for Djs available here: