In the world of music, there are numerous ways in which music can be used by people who do not own it. Here, we will focus on just a few key aspects.
To start, let’s understand what copyright means. Copyright is a term that describes the ownership of something intangible. In our case, we are talking about music—the music that someone composes and records. Both the composition and the recording are owned by someone, which means they hold the copyright to it.
There are two main parts of a musical piece that have copyright protection:
- The composition – This includes all the notes arranged in a specific structure, along with the instrumentation.
- The recording – This refers to the actual performance and recording of the composition. The person who records the music may or may not be the same as the composer, but both aspects are protected by copyright.
Because these two copyrights belong to their respective owners, permission must be obtained to use them. For example, radio stations, TV shows, and YouTube videos play music only if they have permission from the copyright owner. This permission is granted through a license.
For instance, if a business wants to play a CD album in the background at their establishment, they must obtain a specific license that grants them the legal right to do so.
For the purpose of our discussion, this is all you need to understand about licensing and copyright. Now, if someone approaches you offering to sell “copyright-free” music, you will recognize that the concept does not make sense. Copyright is about ownership, so if they are selling you the copyright, that means you would own it entirely and could use it however you like—an unlikely scenario for a business.
In the next part of this series, I will discuss how music licenses are purchased, paid for, and managed.
