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Copyrights in Arts: How do Copyrights Play a Major Role in Musician’s Artistic Pursuits?

role of copyright

Copyrights for Musicians

Copyright is an important process for paying an artist and preserving his/her work. An artist will not make money without copyright. Copyright registration in India provides security and stability that allows an artist to create art for a living while they are still trying to create art and are no longer able to do so physically. It is the responsibility of other artists to learn the distinction between inspiration and copyright infringement. Copying someone’s work is not impressive. It’s stealing. When the work of an artist is copied and the artist does not receive compensation it takes food out of that artist’s plate and even affects their families. What worse it does is that it kills a secure environment that is necessary for creativity; it makes it hard to continue creating art.

An alternative is Gemtracks, a marketplace that sells beats and instrumentals with the ownership and copyright transferred to the buyer. Each track can only be sold once.

For how long does a copyright last?

Copyright begins just as soon as you create the music or art and lasts for a lifetime, up to 70 years after your death.

Where do you sign an artist's copyright?

When made, creative work has copyright protection. So long as you have a way to check the date the work was done and the work is documented in a standardized form, you are safe from being ripped off. You don't have to sign art copyright. 

What's Abstract Work?

Many would say that the research we did in our Oracle series is too abstract and varied to protect creative copyright. Works need not be direct copies of each other to be a copyright infringement, because even such diverse work as our Oracle series can be copied in a way that infringes copyright law. Derivatives, variants, and mutilations are also copyright infringements. A copyright thumb rule is, "Will the reader be misled about authorship?” Maybe you're looking at a copyright violation.

Why Copyright is a Hope to Musicians?

To artists whose life depends on the creativity rope, the only justice you can receive when someone exploits your art is to bring it to the attention of their peers and clients. The hope and aim are that those who copy and steal artistic pieces of art will see the wrong in their actions to confess and correct their behavior. That's our moral responsibility as artists and if we violate copyright law, there's no safe place to build and we've lost hope.

The biggest challenge we have faced with copyright infringement is small-scale artists and studios believing they've "discovered" something new, saying they're unaware of our work. Make no mistake – denying your copyright infringement doesn't make it acceptable. The problem with small studio copyright infringement is especially difficult to address legally as any sum of money invested into a court dispute is unlikely to be recovered, because the studios themselves are in no better financial shape than we are. The easiest and first way to treat a studio that steals our work is to first explain our position and ask them to stop what they're doing. That's always been our front-line strategy. The second step is to publicize offensive acts. This isn't something we love doing, but something that has become increasingly important.

Does my copyright extend internationally?

Yes, over 170 countries have entered Berne since 1887. The Berne Convention explicitly established many elements of modern copyright law that help you know everything about copyright registration. It introduced the principle that when a work is "locked," copyright occurs, rather than requiring registration. It also allows countries to accept copyrights owned by residents of all other parties to the Convention.

Copyright Registration for Music Artists 

If an artist scrupulously copies work to stealing some of the artist's profits or prestige, it hurts artistic endeavour. Such actions violate the sanctity of one's cultural and creative communities. Why would a businessman buy your work if someone could make a copy? How would a corporation pay for your license if your work is stolen from other artists in your local community?

The copyright of the composition is different from that of the sound recording copyright. In general, the sound recording can be considered as the master — the recorded output of the composition. When publishing a newly published piece, the composer will take care to secure the composition's copyright separately from the sound recording copyright.

Though unnecessary, registration of published music or recordings has many benefits. Copyright registration grants the right to demand legal costs and statutory damages. Registration will be required before continuing to enforce copyright. There's little to no point recording a composition before it's written. This usually means selling or distributing copies to the public. YouTube will be publishing a new recording or video. Live music performance doesn't publish the album.


Although the infringement of copyright is one of the biggest challenges we face, the situation can be motivating. It means that I have to work harder and dig longer, spend hours in the lab. It means that I will fight for my imagination and works that I won't hesitate to do. I do have a life and wife and 2 children who continue to see me, given the push. When artists steal from each other, life is harder for all and the wonderful creative culture, of which I am proud to be a part, is quietly diminished. Let us be our imaginative kind and not take the work of others.

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