Copyright: An Ever-Evolving Industry

As the issues surrounding copyright become ever more prevalent within the media, the concept of copyright and its relationship to the music industries in terms of protection, limitations and income must be analysed to determine its contribution to the development of these industries.

What is copyright?

Copyright has continued to change and adapt its definitions throughout the years and is now a word commonly used to outline the many licenses, legal terms, laws and income streams found within the music industries. Within this comes the term ‘Intellectual Property’ which defines the person who holds a license or owns a particular musical work.

Anderton et al (2013; 161) argued that ‘Copyright law in Europe and the US was created to encourage new works that enrich the cultural life of a nation’ which would allow people to work full-time as a creative artist and also gave incentive to create new work for public consumption. This shows that copyright was created to protect work created by artists but also allow this to be shared safely in the public domain without it being taken by someone else as their own. This initial concept may work well in theory, but in reality it could be a completely different story.

Wikström (2013; 12) argues that the music industry is a ‘copyright industry’ rather than a creative one but that it is made up of many components meaning that the term ‘music industry’ has been moved from singular to plural to show the diversity between the many cultural industries. This illustrates the creativity, which is integral to these industries and begins to highlight how this helped to revitalise cities as their dominant industries changed.

Copyright sets out to compensate artists for their creative work whilst supporting others who are involved in this process including music publishers and record labels. This is where things can become a bit more tricky.

Copyright Issues

There are many issues which surround copyright as legislation varies from country to country. Whilst one country may force the creator of the musical work to forever keep the rights and ownership, another may allow these to be sold on to someone else including music publishers and record labels. Wikström (2013: 19) outlines the many complications found within copyright laws including the addition of Moral rights which shows how legislation can vary between countries, highlighting ‘…the right to be recognised as the author of a creative work that…cannot be transferred, bought or sold’. This may protect the creators income in royalties but also limit the potential exposure of the work if rights had changed hands.

The development of digital media has also affected the music industries, creating easier ways to share and download music.

Rojek (2001: 147) argues that ‘Digitalization has shaken the industry to its foundations…Because digital downloads allow consumers to purchase single tracks, the market for album…will continue to contract for the foreseeable future.’. This is only the tip of the iceberg as online piracy and counterfeit has now become a popular headline in the media, forcing the re-think of many parts of copyright legislation.

Anderton et al (2013: 178) outlined lobbying for stronger legislation, whilst illustrating a few prominent changes including the successful lobbying of the French government into ‘…introducing a ‘graduated response’ system meaning that those who infringe the legislation are sent two warnings followed by court action; and the UK Digital Economy Act 2010 looking to introduce ‘powers to block internet addresses; cap, filter, or limit the internet connections of persistent offenders, and to create a process for releasing the identities of persistent offenders so that legal action can be taken’. This shows how seriously these offences are taken as the artists work and income can be put at risk and higlights ways in which governments are taking action to protect this.

Impact of a Digital Society

As digitalization continues to grow at a rapid rate, we must look to the positives and possibilities that this creates rather than looking only at the negative aspects. Hargreaves (2011: 26) in his Review of Intellectual Property and Growth argues that ‘Digital technology is thus enabling UK businesses to serve UK and global markets better, using innovation to raise productivity and exploit new outlets.’ This shows the importance of digitalization in order to promote and share work on a global scale, allowing more exposure to artists and allowing copyright legislation to develop further to best support creativity on a large scale.

However, as part of the development of online media, Rosen (2008: 303) conducted some interesting research into the development of music parody and how this affects copyright legislation and allows work to go ‘viral’ on the internet — being shared by many people on a global scale. Parodies are new versions of songs which have alterations to both lyrical and compositional content but this also comes with complications regarding copyright laws. An example used shows that during a court case, someone argued that ‘…when reading the parody text, the reader would subliminally “hear” the music to the song…’ and that this highlights copyright infringement if published and can limit income for the original author of the work.

These are only a few examples of how the development of a digital society can have both a positive and negative impact on copyright and how this can affect royalties earned by authors of work along with the music industries as a whole. There are many more examples out there, showing the issues faced by both governments and artists in the pursuit to protect but also share their creative work.

Final Thoughts

From discussions with a variety of artists around Aberdeen looking specifically at copyright and the income it generates, I have found that whilst some bands are fully registered with PRS and PPL so are able to generate some income from their work whether performed or broadcast, some local small-scale artists are not registered meaning that they are losing out on money that they are entitled to from the work they have created. I found it fascinating to discuss this with a local music producer who discussed the importance of creating soundtracks for gameshows and radio news reports as opposed to adverts as each time the piece was played, a new mechanical royalty would be issued creating a much higher income stream for the artist due to the fact that it was a ‘new’ show each time it was played. This shows parts of the industry which earn more than another and may create new ways for artists to sustain their work in the future.

As both Music Industries and the Copyright Industry develop, copyright legislation will continue to evolve to best protect artists and their creative work. Digitalization may pose a threat and a benefit to the music industries but without it, the industries may not have reached the scale that they have today with mass media sharing worldwide, providing additional exposure for artists leading to further potential income streams.

Bibliography

Anderton, C. Dubber, A. and James, M. (2013) Understanding The Music Industries. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. pp. 161, 178.

Hargreaves, I. (2011). Digital Opportunity: Review of Intellectual Property and Growth. Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. pp. 26.

Rojek, C. (2011) Popular Music, Pop Culture. Cambridge: Polity Press. pp. 147.

Rosen, R. S. (2008) Music and Copyright. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 303.

Wikström, P. (2013) The Music Industry: Digital Media and Society Series. Cambridge, Polity Press. pp. 12, 19.