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Protecting Your Band Name as a Trademark
The selection of a band name creates a host of legal issues. Obviously, this brief article cannot touch on every legal and intellectual property issue that relates to a...
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Are Songwriters Prepared to Recapture Ownership?
After recent discussions with successful songwriters and industry veterans, I realized that many songwriters are unaware of their termination rights (also referred to as “recapture rights”) under the...
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Non-Exclusive Contracts vs. Exclusive Contracts – Part 1
A lot of my friends are great musicians who really pour their heart and soul into their work and I am truly lucky. Why? Because having worked in the industry for so long for both production music and...
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A Brief History of Copyright Law
The concept of copyright has been around for a long time despite being introduced into legislation in the United States in 1831. In 1575 Queen Elizabeth first doled out a patent on music printing to a...
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Enforcing Your Rights
Many songwriters and artists believe the myth of the “poor man’s copyright.” As the myth goes, an author places a copy of his work in a self-addressed envelope and mails it back to himself. When the...
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How To Protect Your Songs
Fear of infringement is a big issue with musicians looking to make sure they’re properly credited and compensated for their efforts. But what can George P. Songwriter do to make sure his songs are...
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Recapture and Termination Rights
In the world of copyright, few things are more attractive to artists than the recapture and termination period. These two concepts mean an artist can repossess the rights to sound recordings or songs...
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What Is The DMCA?
No, it’s not the name for Run DMC before they brought on Reverend Run and fired Amos, their well-meaning but ill-suited hillbilly friend. The DMCA was an amendment passed in congress back in 1998. It...
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How Copyright Works
Copyright begins the moment you put your pen on a paper, press record in ProTools, or start wailing away on your keyboard ... in Sibelius. I know, you thought something wasn’t protected by copyright...
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Does The Marvin Gaye Estate Have A Blurred Vision of Copyright Ownership?
The interesting thing about copyright infringement is that it escalates. In reality, a case should be pretty cut and dry, and you should be able to tick off a number of boxes in a checklist to...
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License and Registration, Please: The Battle of Unlicensed Lyrics Websites To...
Two decades ago, if R.E.M. fans wanted to learn all the words to “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” they had to buy the sheet music. If Freddie Mercury fans wondered about...
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The Future Of The DMCA (And How It Affects Your Copyrights)
You may have recently heard about a big to-do in Washington concerning the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act). Recent hearings evaluating the DMCA’s copyright infringement notice and takedown...
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BMI and U.S. Senators Discuss Support of Equity For Songwriter Compensation
From the press release Broadcast Music, Inc. is continuing its efforts to level the playing field for America’s music creators in today’s digital marketplace. BMI songwriter and Academy Award and...
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Music Business Roundup: Presented by Songspace
Each week at Songspace we recap some of the major music business stories here on Songwriter U. Here’s what you should know from the week ending on June 13th. Amazon Prime Streaming Music On Thursday...
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Music Business Roundup: YouTube vs. Indie Labels, SoundExchange
Each week on Songwriter U, Songspace recaps the top stories in the world of music business. Here’s everything you need to know from the week ending on June 20th. YouTube’s ‘Nuclear Threat’ to Indie...
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Rosanne Cash Testifies Before Congress In Defense Of Artists’ Rights
Rosanne Cash will testify before the House Judiciary Committee this Wednesday, June 25 in Washington, D.C. on behalf of the Americana Music Association. The hearings, titled “Music Licensing Under...
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Guest Blog: Do Major Labels Really “RESPECT” Older Artists?
By Casey Rae. This article originally appeared on The Future of Music Coalition’s website. Yesterday (June 25, 2014), the House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet held yet...
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Copyrights, Licensing, And Royalties: A Fact Sheet
The US Copyright Office and the House of Representatives are currently considering an overhaul of some of the copyright regulation that governs musical licensing. Here are some quick facts on the...
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What’s Worth More, The Song Or The Recording?
Atlas Music Publishing CEO Richard Stumpf Weighs In There’s been a lot of recent debate within the industry over the future of US music royalties. [Check out our fact sheet for a crash course on the...
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Music Business Roundup: Spotify API Updates, Congressional Music Licensing...
Each week on Songwriter U, Songspace recaps the top stories in the world of music business. Here’s everything you need to know from the week ending on June 27th. 2nd Congressional Licensing Hearing A...
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