Serious question: is this theft of IP? I know if a songwriter writes a song, you need to license it in order to perform it for profit, but are the actual lyrics intellectual property?
"The copyright law of the United States provides for copyright protection in
“musical works, including any accompanying words,” that are fixed in some tangible
medium of expression. 17 U.S.C. §102(a)(2). Musical works include both
original compositions and original arrangements or other new versions of earlier
compositions to which new copyrightable authorship has been added.
"The owner of copyright in a work has the exclusive right to make copies, to
prepare derivative works, to sell or distribute copies, and to perform the work
publicly. Anyone else wishing to use the work in these ways must have the permission
of the author or someone who has derived rights through the author.
note: Copyright in a musical work includes the right to make and distribute the
first sound recording. Although others are permitted to make subsequent sound
recordings, they must compensate the copyright owner of the musical work under
the compulsory licensing provision of the law (17 U.S.C. §115). For more information,
see Circular 73, Compulsory License for Making and Distributing Phonorecords.
"Copyright Protection Is Automatic
"Under the present copyright law, which became effective January 1, 1978, a work
is automatically protected by copyright when it is created. A work is created
when it is “fixed” or embodied in a copy or phonorecord for the first time.
Neither registration in the Copyright Office nor publication is required for
copyright protection under the law.
Lyrics are copyrighted. Musical scores may be separately copyrighted. Individual performances or recordings of music and lyrics together may also be separately copyrighted.
Typically, the latter is pursued by recording companies, because that is the IP they own or exclusively license. The rest is rarely handled by the individual rights-holders, as they usually just let ASCAP or a similar organization handle the business and litigation end, and just cash the royalty checks.
Licensing the lyrics should be a whole lot cheaper than the music or a specific recording. So it would not cost a lyrics site as much to be fully legit as it would for a music streaming site. Likewise, it may cost less to license a cover band to perform something than to license the recording made of it by a famous group, if the song was not actually written by them. This is why ABC's Dancing With the Stars uses so many covers, but obviously still uses recognizable recordings where Disney already has or can cheaply obtain a performance license.
> Likewise, it may cost less to license a cover band to perform something than to license the recording made of it by a famous group, if the song was not actually written by them.
You could even pay the original artist to perform it. The recording is what's licensed, not all performances by that artist. On Spotify I've seen quite a few older artists re-recording their old hits, presumably because they get more money if they themselves own the license to their own cover.
That makes sense, I didn't think of it like that. I was thinking that since the value is in the performance, that that's where the protection would be.
"The copyright law of the United States provides for copyright protection in “musical works, including any accompanying words,” that are fixed in some tangible medium of expression. 17 U.S.C. §102(a)(2). Musical works include both original compositions and original arrangements or other new versions of earlier compositions to which new copyrightable authorship has been added.
"The owner of copyright in a work has the exclusive right to make copies, to prepare derivative works, to sell or distribute copies, and to perform the work publicly. Anyone else wishing to use the work in these ways must have the permission of the author or someone who has derived rights through the author. note: Copyright in a musical work includes the right to make and distribute the first sound recording. Although others are permitted to make subsequent sound recordings, they must compensate the copyright owner of the musical work under the compulsory licensing provision of the law (17 U.S.C. §115). For more information, see Circular 73, Compulsory License for Making and Distributing Phonorecords.
"Copyright Protection Is Automatic
"Under the present copyright law, which became effective January 1, 1978, a work is automatically protected by copyright when it is created. A work is created when it is “fixed” or embodied in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. Neither registration in the Copyright Office nor publication is required for copyright protection under the law.