Copyright is the ultimate protection for artists, musicians, and producer’s works. Because of this, it is wise to learn as much as possible regarding copyrights so you can defend and attack copyright infringers and other problems. Today I bring you some information that you may not have known about the Copyright Act of 1976. What most people know is that this act states the basic rights and fair use rights for copyright holders. What most people do not know is the termination rights that are in 17 U.S.C §. This amendment gave the right to songwriters and musicians to terminate or transfer copyrights after thirty-five years have passed. This is very helpful for those artists/musicians who gave their copyrights over to record labels and did not get much back in return. You can say that this is sort of a second chance. What this means is that in 2013, there is going to be many court cases regarding this subject since this is when the law goes into effect. Now, the next thing to look for is the fact that you cannot apply for this transfer if your work was made work for hire. For example if a recording studio contracted you to work on a song in their studio and they provided you the materials for you to work, then you cannot ask for the transfer or termination of the copyright. All work that you were paid to do was not yours, but of the label, unless stated otherwise in a contract. The next step is to give the record label or the publisher a notification of at least a minimum of two years before the thirty-five years have passed. Failure to do so will not make you eligible to participate in this process. A well known case that is an example of this took place in 2011, where Victor Willis, the lead singer of the group The Village People, is trying to acquire back the copyrights for songs such as “YMCA” and thirty three compositions which he created or co created. The problem with this is that his works where works for hire. Stewart L. Levy who represents the publishing companies in this case stated, “We hired this guy. He was an employee; we gave them the material and a studio to record in and controlled what was recorded, where, what hours and what they did.” As you can see, 2013 will be an interesting year in the music industry.
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