Nowadays, there are more and more disputes related to song copyright. This shows that songwriters have begun to pay more attention to protecting the fruits of their creative labor. In addition, the development of many social networking platforms along with the development of tools to detect and combat music copyright infringement makes organizations and individuals more aware of copyright. when using someone else’s song. So, where to buy music copyright? Please follow VCD’s article below.
1. What is music copyright?
Copyright (or authorship) is a legal term used to describe the rights that authors have over their literary and artistic works.
Music (song) is also known as a musical work. According to the provisions of Article 10 of Decree No. 22/2018/ND-CP, a musical work is understood as a work expressed in the form of notes in music or other musical characters or shaped on a recording. Audio and video recording with or without lyrics, regardless of performance or non-performance.
Therefore, music copyright, also known as song copyright, is understood as the author’s right to the work expressed as musical notes in music or other musical characters or shaped on recordings. audio or video recording with or without lyrics, regardless of performance or non-performance from the time the author creates the work.
When a song is introduced to the public, that song is the creative result of the Musician (person who composes the musical work), the performer or presenter of the work (singer, musician,…), and of Music Producers (audio recording, video recording of performances). Accordingly, Vietnamese intellectual property law protects copyright for organizations and individuals who create or own musical works and protects rights related to copyright for organizations and individuals who create or own musical works with performances, audio recordings, and video recordings.
2. The role of song copyright
a. Protect the creator’s ideas
The biggest role of song copyright is to protect the ideas and intelligence that the songwriter has worked hard to come up with. It is a human’s labor, with certain spiritual value. Therefore, it is impossible for others to arbitrarily use the fruits of that labor without any effort. When a song is copyrighted, online phenomena cannot take advantage of it to highlight themselves or engage in disrespectful behavior toward other authors.
b. Avoid author impersonation
The composer may be impersonated to create other inappropriate music. Bad guys can steal and impersonate musicians to sell songs or scam other singers. When you have a copyright to a song, you are considered to have a piece of paper proving your identity or name as the composer of this copyright, verifying that you are the musician who composed this song.
c. Avoid plagiarized songs
The current music market is somewhat chaotic because of many similar music styles. Many musicians refuse to be creative and instead steal or plagiarize other people’s melodies or lyrics. That’s why authors always prepare song copyrights to be ready to sue if someone plagiarizes their music.
d. Protect the song from being corrupted
In addition, the music market includes not only official songs but also parody music, comedy music, variation music, etc. Therefore, musicians also need to consider allowing those who can make their music to be consistent with Vietnamese traditions and customs. If they arbitrarily or intentionally make music without permission, they will be punished according to the law.
3. Where to buy song copyright?
To purchase song rights, you need to contact the author or owner of the song directly. These are the subjects who have the right to dispose of and use their works. However, asking for permission and paying royalties consumes a lot of time, effort, and expense. Owners often have great enthusiasm for their spiritual assets.
In case a musical work has co-owners, the transfer must be with the agreement of all co-owners; In cases where there are co-owners but the musical work has separate parts that can be separated and used independently, the copyright owner has the right to transfer the copyright to his or her separate parts to the organization. , other individuals.
In addition, if you have relationships with many authors, contacting them is very easy. Or the parties see the capacity and effectiveness of cooperation to seek benefits and increase the value of the work. However, if you do not have a relationship with the authors, contacting them will take a lot of time.
Organizations and individuals who want to use musical works must apply for permission and pay royalties to music authors and must proactively contact and work directly with the song’s author. In many cases, they will encounter difficulties. To be implemented quickly, conveniently, and accurately, individuals and organizations can go through a focal point for collective management of rights.
Currently, song authors tend to authorize organizations to carry out collective management of Copyright Rights, VCD is such an organization, VCD represents them in working with organizations and individuals wishing to use or purchase song copyrights. Therefore, you can contact and work directly with VCD about purchasing song copyright if the song author has authorized VCD.
