{"id":15677,"date":"2021-04-07T10:39:22","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T14:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?p=15677"},"modified":"2025-10-10T11:57:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T15:57:40","slug":"music-copyright-breaking-down-the-biz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/music-copyright-breaking-down-the-biz\/","title":{"rendered":"What is music copyright? Hollis breaking down the music biz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Illustration:<\/strong> Filip Froehlich<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Music copyright is a rarely mentioned but fundamental concept upon which this whole business is built.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Even though it sounds wonky, if you\u2019re a creator, music copyright\u2014creating copyright, protecting copyright, and monetizing copyright\u2014is the essence of what we do. So, let\u2019s dig in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In <\/em>Breaking Down The Biz, we take key concepts related to the music business and break them down into bite-sized chunks.<\/em> We hope to cover international perspectives in future entrees, but note that our discussion today primarily revolves around U.S. music copyright, and that nuances may change depending on your country. With that in mind, watch the video above for our full walkthrough on today’s topic, and read on for highlights.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is copyright?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First of all, what is copyright? Copyright<\/strong> is a type of intellectual property. Usually, when we think of property, we think of a house or a car. But a song is property too\u2014just intangible, a creation of the mind. And just like a house or a car, you can also own a song, and that song has value. But how does that ownership shake out?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright is born the moment that a \u201ccreation of the mind\u201d is made tangible, defined by two qualities: original and fixed. First, it has to be original<\/strong>, or in other words, made by you and not derivative or based off of another work. I can\u2019t just add my own lyrics to an existing melody; I have to create something of my own. Secondly, it has to be fixed<\/strong>. This means it\u2019s not good enough for a song to just be in your head. Rather, it needs to be in a format that can be referred to by others. That can be as simple as a voice memo you sang into your phone, or as elaborate as an orchestra recording.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two types of music copyright<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are two types of music copyright, making 200% of a song: the compositional copyright and the sound recording copyright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can there be 200% of something? I think that it’s easiest to understand this by recognizing that a song is in essence two things: the song as it\u2019s written, and the song as it\u2019s heard and experienced. Technically, it\u2019s two halves of a single whole. But, because these two copyrights are so distinct in what they are, how they\u2019re owned, and who controls them, I think it\u2019s best to think of them as two separate entities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compositional copyright<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The compositional copyright<\/strong> (the first 100%) is often referred to as publishing.<\/strong><\/a> This refers to the song\u2019s composition, sometimes described as the lyrics and melody, which might be a deceptively simple way to understand it today. If I write a song<\/a> completely on my own on the piano, I own 100%. But, if I co-write a song with three friends, the four of us own the song, typically 25% a piece. If you contributed to an original composition, you should<\/em> own copyright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are no clear rules to how<\/em> compositional copyright ownership is divided. Many music creators will simply decide that in the spirit of collaboration, every person who contributed to the composition deserves an equal share, or that copyright ownership is distributed pro rata<\/strong>. For example, If I\u2019m in the room with three other writers and we write a song start to finish, I would assume that I’m walking out of there owning 25% of the song. If it\u2019s later decided that part of the song isn\u2019t strong enough, and a fifth writer is brought in to make it stronger, I would assume that that fifth person will be receiving a percentage of ownership as well. How much they end up receiving is definitely based on communication and relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compositional copyright in the real world<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are countless fascinating stories about how compositional copyright is decided and divvied up (we explore a few in detail in the video above). There\u2019s Dolly Parton refusing to give up her copyright for \u201cI Will Always Love You\u201d back when that was standard, and landing a generational smash hit twenty years later when Whitney Houston covered it for The Bodyguard<\/em>. There\u2019s the complicated controversy of \u201cBlurred Lines\u201d that pit Robin Thicke and the other copyright holders against the estate of Marvin Gaye. It gets juicy! But for now, let\u2019s move on to our other type of music copyright, the second 100%: the sound recording copyright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n