CREATING SONGS FROM NOTHING: HOW THE MUSIC MAGIC HAPPEN by Jayram Jat

What is the song’s essence? This question does not have a uniform response for an average person as it depends on his or her likes and dislikes. Personally, I would say that lyrics are the core for a song while one may think it is the music that creates magic. As the subjective consumers of art, all of us have opinions with regards to a song. However, is ownership of a song also relative? Absolutely not.

Comprehending the distribution of rights for each “work” requires understanding how a song is created. It is not as simple as one might think. Every piece of music is a compound of several individual work. For instance, the lyrics can be classified as a literary work according to the Copyright Act while music is artistic. The Producer combines these works into the song. Lastly, the song is used in a film or video to be released via some Platform. This process has different works included in it; lyrics by the lyricist, music from composer, and recording and film by the cinematographer.

This is how the system currently functions in the Music Industry:

The Producer ‘hires’ the music composer to compose a musical for the song and similarly he hires lyricist to write lyrics. The Composer and the Lyricists give rights on this “work” to the Producer.

It is the duty of The Composer to take permission from all other artists and musicians who participate in creating a single composition. The people also possess the rights on their work because they participate in working. Under the terms of this transaction, the producer buys musical rights and gives credits to musicians.

The Producer them gives the rights of the song to a music label. The label, in its turn, uses the rights of motion pictures or video In this assignment of rights, the Music Label gets all ownership over exploitation. This simply implies that a Music Label can use the “work” produced by all these individuals or even those not envisaged yet among them.