The Effect of Copyright on the Evolution of Music - Case Study Example

The author is the person who creates it, and, in the case of music, is the person by whom the arrangements necessary for the making of the recording or film are undertaken.(Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 I(9)(1) ; Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 I(9)(2)(a)). Copyrights expired after 50 years. (Copyright, Designs and Patents act 1988 I(12)(1)).Basically, if you create a piece of music, you own that piece of music for fifty years. You, and you alone, have the right to copy your piece of music, issue copies to the public or perform the music, broadcast it or adapt it.

It is yours. If you wrote the lyrics, then you own the lyrics. If you wrote the music, then the music is yours. If you performed the music, then you own the recording of the live performance. Sound recordings are owned by the maker of the recording. (MIPI).There are many ways that one can infringe upon copyrighted material. This article will explore some of the ways that musical copyright infringement can occur, the most important being illegal downloads, cd ripping and burning, and sampling.

Included in this article will be an examination of how copyrights stifle the creativity of artists; an examination of the law regarding sampling in Germany, the United States and the UK; the law regarding illegal downloads, with an examination of a prominent United States case; and an examination of how the music industry, and the music itself, has evolved and changed in response to the rather prevalent existence of copyright infringement, and how sub-genres have been affected as well.Copyright law may lead to some ridiculous results, one of which was included in Vaidhyanathans (2001) book Copyrights and Copywrongs: the Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity.

In this book, Vaidhyanathan relates an event that concerned the Marx Brothers' 1940s movie called A Night in Casablanca. Upon receiving a letter from the legal department of Warner Brothers that the film title could encroach upon the copyright of the film Casablanca, Groucho Marx understandably skewered the attorney.