To successfully compose artistic melodies and popular or timeless hits, it is impossible not to mention talented musicians. In the context of the booming entertainment industry, this has opened up a vast potential path for young people in the music composition industry. However, with the strong development of current media, copyright infringement in general and copyright for musical works in particular are increasingly complicated to control. So, what rights do musicians have over their musical works? Please follow VCD’s article below.
1. What is a musical work?
According to the provisions of Point d, Clause 1, Article 14 of the Intellectual Property Law 2005, musical works are one of the types of artistic works protected by copyright. Referring to Clause 4, Article 6 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP, “Musical works specified in Point d, Clause 1, Article 14 of the Intellectual Property Law are works expressed in the form of musical notes in a musical score. or other musical characters regardless of performance or non-performance.”
Musical works are protected by copyright based on Clause 1, Article 14 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law (Amended by Clause 5, Article 1 of the 2009 Amended Intellectual Property Law), which regulates artistic works that are copyright protected.
A musician’s musical work is protected by copyright under current intellectual property laws if it meets the criteria that the work is expressed in the form of musical notes or other musical characters or is shaped on audio or video recordings with or without lyrics. Thus, when the musician only thinks about the lyrics in his head but has not yet expressed them in physical form, the music is not protected by copyright.
2. What rights do musicians have over their musical works?
According to Article 18 of the Intellectual Property Law 2005, copyright includes moral rights and property rights, which means that for their musical works, the author will have moral rights and property rights.
- In case the musician is the sole owner of the work
Article 37 of the Intellectual Property Law 2005 stipulates: “The author uses his or her time, finances, and physical and technical facilities to create a work that has moral rights specified in Article 19 and other related laws. property rights specified in Article 20 of this Law”.
Pursuant to Article 14 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP and Clause 5, Article 1 of the Intellectual Property Law amended 2022, musicians have the following rights:
- First, moral rights include:
– Name the work, however naming the work does not apply to works translated from one language to another. The naming of the work must not violate the interests of the State, public interests, legitimate rights, and interests of organizations and individuals, and must not violate other relevant provisions of law.
– Put your real name or pseudonym on the work; be given your real name or pseudonym when the work is published or used; Apply even when the work is used as a derivative work. When publishing or using derivative works, the real name or pseudonym of the author of the work used as a derivative work must be stated.
– Publishing a work or allowing others to publish a work is the release of copies of the work in any form in a reasonable quantity sufficient for the public to access depending on the nature of the work, due to the nature of the work. made by the author or copyright owner or by another individual or organization with the consent of the author or copyright owner.
– Protect the integrity of the work, do not allow others to edit, mutilate, or distort the work in any form that harms the author’s honor and reputation.
- Second, property rights include:
– Making derivative works;
– Performing works to the public directly or indirectly through audio recordings, video recordings, or any other technical means at a location that is accessible to the public but cannot be freely chosen by the public time and each part of the work;
– Directly or indirectly copy all or part of the work by any means or form, except for the case specified in Point a, Clause 3, Article 20 of the Intellectual Property Law 2005, amended in 2022;
– Distributing, importing for distribution to the public through sale or other form of transfer of ownership rights to originals and copies of works in tangible form;
– Broadcasting or communicating to the public works by wire or wireless means, electronic information networks, or any other technical means, including providing works to the public in a way that the public they are accessible at a place and time of their choosing.
These rights will be exercised exclusively by the musician or allowed to be exercised by others following the provisions of the IP Law. Therefore, when any organization or individual exploits or uses one, some, or all of the rights under property rights and the right to publish works, they must ask for permission and pay royalties, remunerations, and other rights. Other material benefits for copyright owners, specifically musicians here. In particular, the right to publish the work or allow others to publish the work and the property rights for non-anonymous musical works are protected for the entire life of the author and the next 50 years. by the year the author died; If the work has a co-author, the term of protection will end in the 50th year after the year in which the last co-author dies.
From there it can be seen that, when a musical work is composed by a musician, it has become an “exclusive musical work”, under the exclusive ownership and use of that musician and only the music. Only that artist has the right to allow one or more other people to exercise property rights over his or her musical work. The above rights to the musician’s musical work will be properly protected by intellectual property law. even if the musician does not apply for a Copyright Registration Certificate, because copyright arises as soon as the work is created and is expressed in a certain material form, not distinguish between content, quality, form, media, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.
- In case the musician is assigned to write music or has an agreement in a cooperation contract to write music for another organization or individual (the author is not also the owner of the work)
According to Article 39 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law, the author who is not also the owner of the work has moral rights (except for the right to publish the product according to Clause 3, Article 19 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law, amended). supplement 2022). Contact Article 14 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP Musicians who create musical works have the following rights:
– Name the work, however naming the work does not apply to works translated from one language to another. The naming of the work must not violate the interests of the State, public interests, legitimate rights, and interests of organizations and individuals, and must not violate other relevant provisions of law.
– Put your real name or pseudonym on the work; be given your real name or pseudonym when the work is published or used; Apply even when the work is used as a derivative work. When publishing or using derivative works, the real name or pseudonym of the author of the work used as a derivative work must be stated.
– Protect the integrity of the work, do not allow others to edit, mutilate, or distort the work in any form that harms the author’s honor and reputation. In case the musician and the other party have a different agreement, the musician’s rights to the work will be exercised according to the agreement in the contract.
In conclusion, the musician will have moral and property rights regarding his or her musical work in case the musician is the sole author of that work. On the other hand, if an organization or individual hires a musician to write a musical work, the musician’s rights to the musical work are exercised according to the rental contract; in case there is no agreement, the musician has certain rights. moral rights of the work according to the law.
