Copyright is a necessary way to protect your work legally in the public domain. Copyright in Australia is free and automatic once it is more than an idea. It even applies if the work is made in Australia but published overseas. Obviously a lawyer would be better at knowing exactly what copyright exists and which party owns it you can try to understand through websites such as the Australian Copyright Council. The main points to be aware of is the creator may not own the copyright, contracts stating the owner of the copyright takes precedence over ownership, ownership of copyright is different from owning the physical item and creators have moral rights in relation to what they create.
Since copyright is automatic there is no need to register it in Australia and this is the case for most countries however, in countries such as the US you can register for copyright for further protection. Since there is no registration it is necessary to have documentation that proves that you are the owner of the piece including drafts and versions of the piece.
Music in particular tends to have two parts of the musical part and the lyrical part. Also to be noted is that sound recordings are covered separately to the music and lyrics. It is not necessary to state that the piece is covered by copyright though it does allow people to know that the piece is protected, such as demos. It is also covered in most countries due to the Berne Convention.
With the piece I just finished there is no lyrical part to be covered by copyright. The musical composition on the other hand would be joint with Liam as we both had parts we composed. As we had no formal agreement with the copyright. The sound recording is where it becomes a little more complicated. As the musician would own the copyright for the performance and then the owner of the recording medium. As Patrick was the performer he owns part of the copyright however, I have the recording sessions and the subsequent audio clips. There is then the arrangement copyright which I solely own as I did the final arrangement alone and even though Patrick gave me ideas, the ideas it does not impact the copyright as I changed from the points given by him.
The final part I need to consider is how long the copyright lasts. As I work under a pseudonym there is slightly more complications with the length. Copyright only lasts for 70 years if it cannot be ascertained to be my work. If I can ascertain this it lasts the normal amount of time of my lifetime plus 70 years. To ensure this I must sign my contracts under my real name with a clause that my real name will not be disclosed. If I don’t do this I will breach the contract making it null. I must also be aware of passing off of my name and to protect it to the fullest extent legally I would need to trademark it.
This was definitely needed to be learnt as I already understood the need for contracts. I still need to learn more on this topic as it is one of the few ways to protect my work and will keep learning more over time.
References
Australian Copyright Council. (2019). Music & Copyright [Ebook] (pp. 1, 2, 4, 7). Strawberry Hills. Retrieved from https://www.copyright.org.au/acc_prod/ACC/Information_Sheets/Music___Copyright.aspx?WebsiteKey=8a471e74-3f78-4994-9023-316f0ecef4ef
Australian Copyright Council. (2014). Ownership Of Copyright [Ebook] (pp. 1, 4, 5). Strawberry Hills. Retrieved from https://www.copyright.org.au/ACC_Prod/ACC/Information_Sheets/Ownership_of_Copyright.aspx
Australian Copyright Council. (2017). Protecting Your Copyright [Ebook] (pp. 1, 2). Strawberry Hills. Retrieved from https://www.copyright.org.au/ACC_Prod/ACC/Information_Sheets/Protecting_Your_Copyright.aspx
"Copyright symbol" by DavidWees is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Tan, L. (2017). To Be or Not To Be: the Legal Considerations of Pseudonyms. Retrieved 22 July 2019, from https://legalvision.com.au/to-be-or-not-to-be-legal-considerations-for-the-use-of-pseudonyms-for-writers/
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