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ASCAP, BMI, SOCAN, PRS, LOL, OMG, WTF. Welcome to the world of Performance Rights Organizations, or PRO’s. Why do we have them, what do they do, and why is it important for musicians to know all this?

Recall from our discussion of copyright that one of the exclusive rights of a copyright holder is the right to publicly perform her work. The performance of music has always played a large role in the public’s engagement with music. Before recording technology came along, public performance income for musicians was simple – get on stage, play, and get paid. Now however, songwriters and musicians can have their recordings publicly performed without having to physically be there. As a result, the licensing of public performances has become very important to musicians and serves as a major revenue stream for them.

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Publishing.

This one word has caused more musicians to pull their hair out than any other word in the music business. It’s a tricky and confusing subject – confusion that’s aided by the unintuitive nature of copyright law, the use of archaic terms left over from the history of music publishing, and the general craziness of the music business.

But music publishing is one of the most important aspects of the music business. Every musician wishing to earn money from their music needs to have at least a general understanding of publishing.

If you’ve been following the Music Business 101 series here on GrindEFX, you should have a leg up on copyright and licensing, which form the basis for music publishing. If you haven’t read them yet and are unfamiliar with those concepts, why not check them now – I’ll wait! Read more…

We discussed previously the exclusive rights a copyright owner gets in connection with her copyrighted work. To recap, a copyright owner has the exclusive right to:

• Make copies of the work
• Make derivative works based on the work (translations, remixes, etc)
• Distribute the work to the public
• Publicly perform the work (a big one for musicians)
• Publicly display the work (more for painters and sculptors)

Anyone can exercise these rights by himself, but it’s a lot of work – never mind getting your own CD’s printed up and selling them yourselves, could you imagine having to own your own radio station in order to promote your songs? Most musicians want to reap financial benefits from their work, and most are also happy to let someone else handle that part of the business. But aside from selling the copyright itself, how does one accomplish this?

The answer is licensing.

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In the last article I discussed the basics of copyright – what it covers, how to get a copyright, what you can do once you have a copyright, etc. If you recall, in nearly every country, copyright protection manifests automatically as soon as an original work is in fixed form.

But you’re also probably aware that you can register a copyright in the United States. I’ve seen a lot of confusion about this, so I’m going to try to lay it out in more detail.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. Anything in this post is for informational purposes only – if you have specific questions, seek out the counsel of a practicing attorney.

Copyright vs. Copyright Registration

Getting a copyright and registering your copyright are two entirely separate things. Getting a copyright is automatic. In the US, and nearly every country in the world, once you put your music, writing, artwork, or whatever into a tangible, fixed form (like a computer file), you have a copyright.

That’s a very big point so read that last paragraph again because I see most of the confusion about copyrights and registration coming from not understanding that point.

Registering your copyright, as I said, is an entirely different matter. Outside of the US, most countries don’t even have an official government registration of copyrights. But the United States still holds on to having a registration process that authors and musicians can take advantage of. Read more…

Welcome to the first installment of GrindEFX’s introduction to some of the most important, and most confusing, concepts in the music business. These are concepts that serve as required knowledge for anyone wishing to take their music beyond the hobby level. They are also concepts that serve as a constant source of frustration and consternation to those same musicians.

Most, if not all, of this information can already be found on the internet. However, a lot of it is not targeted to musicians – it may be good information, but too complex or irrelevant to musician’s concerns. A lot of it might also provide a good explanation of the concepts but not explain the practical application of the concepts to the music business. And finally, there is plenty of bad or outdated information out there; a new musician may not be able to tell the difference between the good and the bad.

So we at GrindEFX are bringing you, the independent musician, this series that lays out the concepts in an easy to understand and relevant fashion. Standard disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and nothing in these posts should be constituted as legal advice. It is only provided for informational purposes. If you have questions about a specific situation you are in, you should contact an entertainment lawyer.

Let’s begin.

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