IP Day celebrates copyright as the heartbeat of the music industry

IP rights can enable songwriters, composers, performers and producers to excel while protecting their rights, with copyright at the centre of the music industry.

Pinsent Masons Dublin steeped in musical history

Pinsent Masons is no stranger to the richness music brings, with the original Windmill Lane Recording Studios, established in 1978 by Brian Masterson and James Morris on Windmill Lane in Dublin, being the home of the firm’s Dublin office.

The recording studio is best known as being the birthplace of U2’s first three albums: Boy, October and War. However, U2 were not the only musicians to frequent the halls of Windmill Lane. Kate Bush, Def Leppard, The Waterboys, AC/DC, The Cranberries, Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, PJ Harvey, Elvis Costello and The Chieftains, to name but a few, all recorded albums at Windmill Lane Recording Studios.

Several famous films scores were recorded in the studios too, including The Commitments, The Mask, Mission: Impossible and The Talented Mr Ripley, as well as Bill Whelan’s globally acclaimed Riverdance.

While the studio relocated in the late 1980s there is still plenty of the original studio’s history to behold at the home of Pinsent Masons Dublin office. Much of the original wooden interior, necessary for acoustics, still exists, and a “vinyl walkway” adorns the front of the building. 21 of the most famous albums recorded at Windmill Lane Recording Studios are encased in glass, lit up and set into the footpath outside the building to commemorate the incredible breadth of renowned music recorded there.

How copyright applies to music

Copyright is a fundamental component for sustaining a dynamic and innovative music industry, as it protects creators, ensuring they receive recognition and compensation for their work.

Copyright is a property right, which means the owner of the copyright, whether the original author or someone to whom the author has assigned the rights, has the exclusive right to permit or restrict others from using their work in different ways. It protects various kinds of work, including literary, musical, artistic, dramatic, film and sound recordings. The protection afforded by copyright provides artists across the music industry with the confidence and reassurance that their compositions, lyrics and recordings are safeguarded against unauthorised use and distribution.

Copyright is an automatically arising right, meaning there are no application forms or fees required to establish it.

Copyright in a song

There are three distinct copyrights in most songs, and often these rights can be owned by different individuals or entities. The interplay between various rights owned in a song can give rise to both collaboration and conflicts.

Copyright in lyrics

The lyrics, or words, in songs are considered literary works and attract the same copyright protection as more traditional literary works, such as books. The person or persons who wrote the lyrics in a song are the first owners of the copyright in the lyrics. However, like all property rights, copyright can be assigned, so it is not always the case that the person who wrote the lyrics to a song is the current owner. The duration of copyright for literary works lasts for 70 years after the death of the author. Once the copyright has expired, the work is considered to be in the public domain, meaning anyone is free to use it.

Copyright in music

The musical arrangement of a song is considered a musical work. The composer or composers of the music will be considered the first owner of the copyright in this instance. Similar to lyrics, copyright in musical work may also be assigned. The copyright also expires 70 years after the death of the author when it becomes free for public use.

Co-writers & co-composers

Where two or more persons write lyrics or compose music together, they are considered co-authors under copyright law. Where music and lyrics are a collaborative effort, such as in a band, the individuals involved should agree whether songs are a collective asset or belong solely to the authors. Best practice in these circumstances is for the parties to sign a short agreement setting out the details of the authors and their respective ownership shared in the music.

Copyright in a recording

Recordings of music and lyrics benefit from copyright protection as sound recordings. Recordings, or masters as they are more commonly referred to, represent a bundle of copyrights in which different individuals or entities may own the various elements. These are often the most controversial right.

Generally, copyright in the recording is the most lucrative ownership right when it comes to music. The owner of the recording exercises control over the licensing of the song, which is what generates a revenue stream in the music industry. This may seem slightly paradoxical, given that the recording could not exist without the work and creativity that went into writing the lyrics or composing the music. Due to the significant control and potential profit linked to recording rights, record labels often negotiate with artists to retain ownership of the masters in return for covering the upfront costs of producing and recording.

Taylor Swift example

US pop singer Taylor Swift is currently two thirds of the way through re-recording and re-releasing her first six studio albums following a dispute with her former record label about the ownership of the master recordings in these albums. The label owned the master recordings however throughout her career, Swift expressed a desire to own her masters and sought to purchase them back. Following her departure from the label, the masters were sold to someone other than Swift, despite her repeated public expression of interest in owning them.

Depending on the terms of an artist’s agreement with their label, the artist may retain the copyright to the musical arrangement and lyrics in their songs, where they are the musician or author who created them. This is the case when it comes to Swift – she is the sole or joint author of all of her music. Retention of these rights obviates the need for her to seek any permission to carry out the re-recording project from the current owner of her first six studio albums, subject to any contractual restriction on re-recording, which does not appear to exist.

When the re-recorded songs are released, they can be identified as the new version by the inclusion of the words “(Taylor’s Version)” after the existing song title. The practical implications of Swift re-recording her albums are that when, for example, a radio station plays her version, or when a listener chooses her version on streaming platforms, the revenue flows back to Swift, as opposed to the person who purchased her masters, who would benefit financially if the original version of the song is chosen.

The project represents a novel and innovative solution to a problem caused by the imbalance of power between major recording labels and artists at the beginning of their careers.