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Author - Shereen Abdin

Music enhances the quality of the film and plays a vital role in the cinema in entertaining the audience. To use copyrighted music in a film, it is mandated to obtain permission from the creator. In recent times, the dispute between musicians, recording theatres, and P2P networks has paved ways to acquire copyrights. It is essential to seek the license from the owner before applying any piece of music in your film before releasing the film, to avoid piracy issues.

Copyright

A song designed for commercial or non-commercial purposes is allowed to be protected for a time of 70 years after the author's death, with authorised copyright.

Now, with ease of access to the internet, the musicians need to be aware of their rights under the American Copyright laws. We will look into the precise process to register for music copyrights and the punishment relevant if infringed.

This copyright means that the song is entitled only to the singer. If anyone wants to use it in his or her scripts, then strict permission is required from the singer.

Sync License

To make the licensing process simple, filmmakers need not contact the owners every time. Instead, they can contact the music rights organization created in the welfare of the public that can provide ready access to such licenses. The singers are paid reasonable compensation for giving these rights to use their work.

Master Use License

On the other hand, the master hand license is available from the record label. Search to find out which record label has the license and then contact the respective department to acquire a license.

Procedure to apply for Copyrights

• The singer has to record the song tangibly or professionally.
• Do a basic registration at the copyright office.
• The fees have to be paid.
• Submit the copy of the song to the copyright office.

The final step is to wait for the registration to be done to get the copyrights officially.

Validity of Copyright

Generally, copyright protection lasts for sixty years. In cases of original literacy, music, artworks the validity period counts from the expiry of the author plus an additional 60 to 70 years. After the expiry of the copyright, it is available for the public at free of cost.

Infringement of Copyright

Infringement means someone copies the work that is protected without the permission of the author. This happens when someone exploits your work for his or her personal use, which is not supported by the law. The punishment for this may range from imprisonment for 3 years along with a charged penalty of two lakhs. Hence, it is advised not to use another person’s work, without his or her consent.

Copyright Notification

To avoid copyright issues, incorporate a copyright sign on your video, in the beginning, or at the end. This indicates the individual rights are exclusively reserved only to the author.

Singer's Rights

Under Section 38 of the legally enforced Copyright act, revised in 2012, the span includes 50 years for the commercially registered song from the start of the calendar year of next subsequent year in which the performance is made.

The singer is open to granting authority to any other person to use his music for marketing purpose. In such cases, royalty cannot be demanded if someone has the copyright. The singer can claim royalty if he owns the song entirely and that is being used for commercial ads or films.

Benefits of Copyrights

The benefits are numerous and granted only to the authors of the copyrights. These include the right to recreate the copyrighted music, to make short films based on copyrighted work, to issue copies to the public and to perform the copyrighted work publically.

The major interests of acquiring copyrights are the liberty to record and exchange your music in various formats like CD and DVD is, sharing your music on social platforms and deliver your music in public independently. Also, it helps you to protect your piece of work and forbids others from misusing your work.

Conclusion

Copyright is crucial for all industries but inevitable for the cinema industry. So, the copyrights of music in India has become more prolific after the amendment act framed in 2012.

Authors are obliged to copyright their work to save it rightly and, filmmakers are informed to use them right, to build a mutually benefited association.

To conclude, it is recommended for the public not to violate the copyright laws in producing films to avoid legal suffering.