Copyright
A composition and a recording carry separate rights — do not merge them
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Copyright is the set of exclusive rights the law gives creators: to copy, distribute, perform publicly and adapt. In music the easiest thing to confuse is two layers of rights: the composition (words and music) and the master (the recording) are separately owned and may belong to different people. Covering a song needs a composition licence; using an existing recording also needs a master licence.
Copyright is not a "fingerprint of melody": it protects specific expression, not ideas such as scales or chord progressions. The term varies by country, usually a number of years after the author's death. The usual mistake is to think buying a record buys the copyright — it buys a licence to listen. This is general information, not legal advice.
Read deeper → master rights
Sources
- 音乐版权中「作品（composition）」与「录音（master）」的二分，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Copyright" 与通行音乐产业教材；本文为通识说明，不构成法律意见
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.