Copyright shape the practices that drive the music business from recording to touring deals. Washington has been passing and amending copyright laws regarding the music industry for more than a century. Still many artist know very little about copyright or rely on obsolete knowledge about those rules.
Copyright actually begins at the moment the music and lyrics are set down on paper, recorded, or stored on a computer. Copyright protects the musician even if the song is never registered with the Copyright Office. The 'poor man's copyright' of ailing a copy of the work to yourself really does not provide any additional legal protection.
Copyright of a composition is totally different and separate from copyright of a sound recording. A sound recording can be considered a master recorded performance of the composition. Always be sure to protect the copyright of the composition separately from the sound recording.
The right to perform or play a song in public is one of the exclusive rights of the copyright holder. Permission or a license is required in advance music is to be played in public unless the music is in the Public Domain or the use of the music qualifies as fair use. But the line between what is private and what is public is complicated. Prior to the Music Licensing Act in 1998, some court cases have drawn the line and declared public uses of music to be copyright infringement unless licensed, as follows:
Radio stations, bars, night clubs, and juke box operators;
Hotels that play the radio for guests through speakers or headphones;
Restaurants;
Stores;
Telephone intercom systems that play music while callers are on hold” (Source: http://publishing.wsu.edu/copyright/music.html)
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