The Law Of Intellectual Property: Music Copyright

  Intellectual property refers to the creations of the mind such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs and symbols, names, and images used in commerce.

 Intellectual property rights are protected by law, for example; trademarks, patents and copyright law protect and enables people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. Under intellectual property law, Copyright law is the most relevant to a music artiste as music is specifically mentioned under the Act.

Copyright is defined by the Merriem -Webster dictionary as the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something (such as a literary, musical, or artistic work). Copyright law rewards authors for their creative works through their own independent effort. Copyright is the bedrock of protection for musicians. It grants exclusive rights to the creators of original musical works, ensuring they have control over their compositions and recordings.

 In music, copyright is categorised into two; the Master recording which is copyright owned by the person who creates the sound recording of the song or the expression of the underlying musical composition created by a performing or recording artiste; this copyright is held by the performing artiste and their label. 

Composition; This covers the underlying musical composition which includes the arrangement of notes, chords, and melodies in a specific order created by the performing or recording artiste. The copyright here is owned by songwriters, composers, and lyricists and is managed by their music publishers who partially own the copyright with them.

   In Nigeria, copyright protection is conferred automatically upon the creation of an original musical work. This means that as soon as a musician or songwriter creates a piece of music, whether it's a catchy melody, a set of lyrics, or a full-fledged composition, it is inherently protected by copyright.

This automatic protection applies to a wide range of musical works, from traditional folk songs to contemporary pop hits. 

This fundamental principle is vital for musicians because it means that they don't have to navigate a complex registration process to secure copyright protection. This provided for by section 4 of the copyright bill 2022.

Copyrights last an entire lifetime of the author and 70 years after their lifetime.

It is also worthy of note that Creating lyrics similar to another could easily fall under copyright infringement an example of this the case of childish Gambino (Donald Glover) v. Kidd Wes (Emelike Nwosuocha). In May of 2021, Kidd Wes claimed that Childish Gambino's song "This is America" (2017) was "substantially similar" to the rapper's song "Made in America" (2016). Specifically, he claims that "the lyrical theme, content, and structure of the identically-performed choruses" are virtually identical. 

The case is not yet resolved. Furthermore, illegal sampling of a song could constitute an infringement an example of this occurred in 2019 when Ajibola Muyiwa Danladi, popularly known as ‘Danny Young’ brought copyright infringement proceedings against Tiwa Savage and her then record label, Mavin Records, on the grounds that Tiwa Savage allegedly lifted lyrics from his ‘Oju Tiwon’ song and used same in her 2018 song ‘One’.

 Although the parties reportedly settled the matter out of court and the suit was consequently discontinued, this occurrence is a clear example of the need for artists to take steps to avoid potential liability when creating/producing their songs. One area that could be a pitfall for artists is the issue of ‘sampling.’

The owner of a copyright enjoys a plethora of rights, such as the right to reproduce the work, right to perform the work, right to legal action where there is an infringement amongst a host of other rights.