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What are the Five Copyrights?

by Joel Falconer

A few days ago we posted our contest regarding the five copyrights. Today, for the benefit of all, we’re publishing the answer to the question. Almost no musicians understand intellectual property law, but it’s the bread and butter of a musical career.

What’s more important than the songs themselves? The copyrights attached to them!

And here are the five exclusive copyrights of the creator/copyright holder:

  1. To reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords;
  2. To prepare derivative works based upon the work;
  3. To distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
  4. To publicly perform the work, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works;
  5. To publicly display the work, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work.

Learn them by heart. If you refuse, prepare for failure. Simple as that.


One Response to “What are the Five Copyrights?”

  1. Musician’s Notebook » Blog Archive » Does your band have valuable promotional items? Says:

    […] that no matter who you have designing promotional items for your band, you’ll need the copyrights to those items when they’re done. Of course, you’ll need to negotiate some terms and […]

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Do you know which essential questions to ask yourself when starting a band? What is your strategy for reaching an audience? Which tactics are you using to promote? Can you answer in 4 seconds or less what the strongest theme of your music is? Most musicians answer these questions with a shrug and glazed-over eyes, but they're just a few of the things a musician must know to create exposure and audience. Read Musician's Notebook with Joel Falconer and discover how to make your music sharp, focused and successful.

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