Music albums and songs are the intellectual properties of studios or registered businesses. Different countries and states provide the legal protection of someone’s intellectual properties. Either it’s a video clip or music cover, you cannot use any fragment of music for non-profit or profit purposes. If you are willing to use someone’s music or work, you must ask the business or studio for permission in written form. If you use their intellectual property without their consent, it will be theft, and you will have to face a serious lawsuit.
What is Copyright?
If you have created some intangible artwork like music, videos, images, or logos and have registered your work under the law, you own the copyrights of your work. Owning the copyrights of any intellectual property mean that no one else can copy or edit your creation without your permission.
The copyrights can be sold along with the artwork, and it means that the business owns the work. Here are some significant products of creative work that are dealt with by copyright laws:
- Books and literacy work
- Recorded or written music
- Work of creative art
- Images, logo, and photography
- Plays and video clips
Dealing with copyrights and intellectual property claims can be tricky. If you are planning on doing something that involves the concept of copyrights and intellectual properties make sure that you have a legal expert on board.
Why should you care for Copyrights?
If you have created any kind of digital asset and you don’t want other people to use your work for their gains, you will have to register your work under the law. The copyright registration will protect your work against any kind of intellectual property theft. If someone or some company tries to use your work in their promotion, you can file a lawsuit against that entity.
What is Intellectual Property?
Intellectual properties are important sectors of business, and there are specific laws and rules about the ownership of intellectual properties. World Intellectual property Organization is an international organization that deals with the rules and regulations for creative work.
“Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names, and images used in commerce.”
All the intangible creations are considered intellectual properties, and the scope of intellectual properties is not limited to music albums only. The copyright owner or the intellectual can file a suit against if some other party uses his property without permission.
Copyright as Intellectual Property
Intellectual property is mainly related to the expression of thoughts and creative ideas. Copyright primarily deals with creative work in the form of audio or visual data. Trademark is something different from a copyright or intellectual property as a trademark means that some specific design or logo is the identity of the business.
Copyrights mean that it is something that can be copied edited by any other person or business. Copyrights are different from the trademarks, and if you are in some legal problems regarding intellectual property claim or violation copyrights, make sure that your lawyer knows how to deal with a specific legal problem.
Using Music for Covers and Copyrights
Music is an art and musician has nothing to do with the legal matters. How are they supposed to know how they can ask someone for the collaboration, and how they can own the copyrights of any album? What kind of music can be used in their cover and how to know about the owner of the music album?
This article is going to talk about some significant points that you need to know about copyrights, intellectual property, and music covers.
How to Record Music Cover Legally?
Creating music covers for famous albums and songs is the new trend in the music industry. If you are going to record cover songs, make sure that you are not doing anything illegal. Either you are working alone or working as a band. You cannot use anyone’s work without written permission.
If you don’t want to have a lawsuit against you, make sure that you have all the personal and contact details of the company or individuals who own that album. US law protects intellectual property, so ensure that you are not violating any written law.
Here is everything that you need to know about legally using someone’s work for your purpose.
1. Find the Business that Holds the Copyrights
If you want to use some audio data or music, you can find the details of the business or owner on the back of the CD. They usually don’t print the official contact number, but you can find the email or business name from the CD or the cover.
2. Find Online
If you know the name of the business that holds the copyrights but don’t know the contact details, you can use the internet to contact them. Search the name of the business on the internet and try finding their contact information or mailing address.
3. Contact Copyright Office
If you could not find anything offline and online, you can get the details from the official copyright website. You can search for the album on the main page of the collection. Enter the details of the album or any other information that you have and find the required data.
4. Contact the Copyright Owner
You can contact the business that holds that record or music album. While getting in touch with them, provide full details of the cause that you want their work for. Provide the owner with everything that they need to know about your work or the purpose.
5. Have the Permission
Once you are on the same page with the copyright owner, you can have the written permission for the use of their music as your cover song or any other purpose. You might have to provide some commission or fee to the real owner for using the work of any artist. Try to avoid any legal complication at every cost.
