Music Arranging & Copyright Laws

• Music is considered to be copyrighted the moment it is recorded. music image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com

  Copyright laws, as they pertain to the arts and creative expression, can be complex and confusing. The moment an artist produces a recorded work of music, it is copyrighted. Legally, no one is permitted to infringe on copyrighted material by reproducing it in any way. Artists often choose to register their copyrighted material, though, in case they one day need legitimate proof that they created their work before a particular date.

Derivative Works

• A derivative work is any piece of work that is based upon preexisting material. A musical arrangement might be considered a derivative work even if all the instruments have been changed and the lyrics altered, but the melody is recognizable from a copyrighted song. Legally, you may not create a musical arrangement or derivative work of a copyrighted song unless you are the composer or have explicit permission from the composer or publisher. There are exceptions.

Public Domain

• Public domain is considered to be intellectual property that is owned by the public. This may be because legal copyright protection expired on the material or because the creator of the material legally handed over his work to the public domain. Copyright law states that a copyright expires either 95 years after the original publication or 120 years after its creation. You are permitted to create a musical arrangement of any song in the public domain with no legal repercussions.

Parody

• If you are creating a musical arrangement to parody the original work, you do not need permission from the original composer. However, you are restricted to using only as much as you need from the original work to make the intent of your parody clear. To prove an artist used more than was needed from the original work is rather difficult and stands as a point of ambiguity in copyright law.

Fair Use

• A defendant accused of infringement on a copyrighted work may attempt to claim "fair use." It is difficult to prove "fair use," though, if the reproduction of the original work was used for commercial purposes. Other factors are taken into account when considering the legitimacy of "fair use," such as how much of the original work was used and whether or not the reproduction decreased the value of the copyrighted material.

Legal Consequences

• By violating copyright law and arranging music illegally, a guilty verdict can cost a defendant as little as $200 and as much as $150,000 per work. Damages are determined by the degree of intentional infringement on the copyright in question.