Music Downloading Copyright Laws
The advent of the digital age has greatly changed the way songs and musical works are distributed and acquired. It has challenged the relevance of existing music copyright laws as well as the practices of everyone involved in the music industry.
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Amendments
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The first adjustment made to US Copyright Laws that directly covered the digital transfer of musical works came in the Digital Performance Rights in Sound Recordings Act of 1995. The following year another amendment was passed called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This second adjustment incorporated new rules that were agreed upon by signatories in the World Intellectual Property Organization's Copyright Treaty and Performances and Phonograms Treaty. Both amendments endeavored to address the copyright issues and concerns of musical artists, recording companies and music publishers that came about from the rise of the Internet and associated technologies.
Music Download
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One important contribution of the new copyright laws passed was to make a distinction between a transmission and a download. A transmission or a webcast does not result in the recipient having a copy of the musical work transmitted. The purpose is to publicly broadcast the musical work through the World Wide Web. A download on the other hand, results in the recipient possessing a copy of the musical work on his hard drive. The purpose this time is to distribute copies of the musical work. This distinction is crucial, as each procedure requires different types of licenses.
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Two Copyrights
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In obtaining a license to distribute copies of a musical work, two permissions from two copyright owners are actually sought. The first is the copyright owner of the song, which is usually the composer or songwriter. The second is the copyright owner of the song's sound recording, which is the recording company. It's quite possible (as in the case of most old popular songs where the composer or songwriter has already passed away) that the copyright ownership of the song has been transferred to the music publisher. It's also quite possible that various sound recordings were made of the same old popular song. Knowing which person or organization to ask permission from involves knowing exactly who owns the copyright of the song and which specific sound recording version of the song is going to be distributed on the Internet.
License
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To make a song available for download is similar to reproducing it. To receive permission from the copyright owner of a song is to be granted reproduction rights. According to U.S. Copyright Laws, as long as records of the song have been previously distributed in the United States, the song's copyright owner is compelled to grant a license at a fee set by law. This fee is known as the 'statutory rate' and is set at $0.71 and this type of license is called a mechanical license. The mechanical license fee is collected from the source---the website where the song can be downloaded, and not from the recipient---which could be any individual user from anywhere in the world. However, in the case of the copyright owner of the sound recording of the song, granting the license is not compulsory and no fee is actually set by law. This means a recording company can actually deny permission or charge any amount it wants.
Issues
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Despite new laws and regulations, the majority of music downloads on the Internet are still illegal. Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks where users can directly share music files are where most copyright infringements are being made. It's not a violation if one makes copies of a song for oneself, but once these copies are circulated to other people whether for profit or for free, it becomes illegal. An ongoing debate may decide the future of the music industry. On one side are the record companies, music publishers, musical artists and other agencies that wish to protect their rights and their livelihoods, which significantly depend on the enforcement of music copyright laws. On the other side are the web community and its representatives, who advocate that such laws are obsolete and that the music industry must adapt to the new technologies of the Internet by changing the way it does business.
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