A More Cerebral Look At Music
Clearance
Music is many things to many people – it can entertain,
inspire, soothe or motivate us. It can bring a stadium of people
to its feet, or put a baby to sleep. For that reason, we all
feel a personal connection to the music we know. Music stays
with us throughout the years, and can become one of our best
lifelong friends – it has value in our culture, our society
and in our own lives.
Like most things of value, society has
adopted laws to protect the interests of music rights owners.
But since music usually becomes valuable only after it is
shared with the public, these laws also protect the interests
of users of music from unreasonable controls by rights owners.
The best known of these protections is copyright law, which
regards music (and other creative works) as a property right,
similar to real estate. The owners of this property (known
as intellectual property) in the world of music are publishers
and record companies, who have the authority to control and
grant uses of their music. For more information, be sure to
visit [Music Rights 101)].
For the most part, music owners sell
copies of recordings (i.e. records, tapes, CDs) or sheet music
to the public. Airplay on radio or through music videos also
brings music to audiences.
Once a song or piece of music is heard,
there is sometimes an interest by an outside party who would
like to it for a secondary purposes, such as a film, commercial,
computer chip, or on an oldies album. Music copyright owners
can convey permission for these uses by means of licenses.
Therefore, if a desired piece of music
is owned by a publisher or record company, music clearance
is required in order to get an appropriate license for a permitted
purpose.
do i need it?
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public domain
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