What is Copyright?

Just as a car or refridgerator has usefulness to the purchaser, so does a musical composition. A music CD will provide hours of listening pleasure to the CD's owner. On a larger scale, musical compositions are part of what make people buy tickets for a concert, thus creating value for the concert organizers. Also, music will enhance a movie or TV documentary, increasing its intrinsic value.

The concept of musical copyright is based on the principle that musical compositions can be treated as private property. However, since music itself is a sound and not an object, it cannot be treated like a car or refridgerator, and therefore cannot be sold for ownership to a single person. It must be sold, lent or leased on a "usage" basis, with the composer and/or producer usually retaining the ultimate management rights.


There are two main areas of usage, or copyright, management:

        1) royalty collection, and
        2) copyright infringement.

Royalty collection is primarily handled by large organizations like ASCAP and BMI, while copyright infringement is mainly dealt with in the law courts. The problem of infringement often boils down to proof of authorship of a specific musical composition.

Musilogic, Inc. and Copyright

Musilogic, Inc. is actively involved in reducing the likelyhood of copyright infringement, both voluntary and involuntary, by providing tools that allow a composer to:

	1) Instantly define in a tangible medium a new or unpublished composition, by uploading it to a public or private database; 2) Specify the details of a composition's arrangement, such as tempo, key, rhythmic underpinning, and instrumentation; 3) Apply a securely recorded timestamp to the submitted composition;

Fair Use