Editing Musical composition (section)

== Copyright and legal status ==
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[[Copyright]] is a government-granted [[monopoly]] which, for a limited time, gives a composition's owner—such as a composer or a composer's employer, in the case of [[work for hire]]—a set of exclusive rights to the composition, such as the exclusive right to publish [[sheet music]] describing the composition and how it should be performed. Copyright requires anyone else wanting to use the composition in the same ways to obtain a license (permission) from the owner. In some jurisdictions, the composer can [[copyright transfer agreement|assign copyright]], in part, to another party. Often, composers who are not [[doing business as]] publishing companies themselves will temporarily assign their copyright interests to formal publishing companies, granting those companies a license to control both the publication and the further licensing of the composer's work. [[Contract]] law, not copyright law, governs these composer–publisher contracts, which ordinarily involve an agreement on how profits from the publisher's activities related to the work will be shared with the composer in the form of [[royalties]].

The scope of copyright in general is defined by various international treaties and their implementations, which take the form of national [[statutory law|statutes]], and in [[common law]] jurisdictions, [[precedent|case law]]. These agreements and corresponding body of law distinguish between the rights applicable to sound recordings and the rights applicable to compositions. For example, [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|9th Symphony]] is in the [[public domain]], but in most of the world, recordings of particular performances of that composition usually are not. For copyright purposes, [[song lyrics]] and other performed words are considered part of the composition, even though they may have different authors and copyright owners than the non-lyrical elements. Many jurisdictions allow for [[compulsory license|compulsory licensing]] of certain uses of compositions. For example, copyright law may allow a record company to pay a modest fee to a [[copyright collective]] to which the composer or publisher belongs, in exchange for the right to make and distribute CDs containing a [[cover band]]'s performance of the composer or publisher's compositions. The license is "compulsory" because the copyright owner cannot refuse or set terms for the license. Copyright collectives also typically manage the licensing of public performances of compositions, whether by live musicians or by transmitting sound recordings over radio or the Internet.

=== In the U.S. ===
Even though the first US copyright laws did not include musical compositions, they were added as part of the [[Copyright Act of 1831]]. According to a circular issued by the [[United States Copyright Office]] on Copyright Registration of Musical Compositions and Sound Recordings, a musical composition is defined as "A musical composition consists of music, including any accompanying words, and is normally registered as a work of the performing arts. The author of a musical composition is generally the composer, and the lyricists if any. A musical composition may be in the form of a notated copy (for example sheet music) or in the form of a phonorecord (for example cassette tape, LP, or CD). Sending a musical composition in the form of a phonorecord does not necessarily mean that there is a claim to copyright in the sound recording."<!--archiveurl needed, as the new versions no longer contain this quote--><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ56a.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006182111/http://copyright.gov/circs/circ56a.pdf|title=Copyright Registration of Musical Compositions and Sound Recordings. Circular 56A, number 56a.0509|archive-date=6 October 2015|access-date=6 October 2015|publisher= United States Copyright Office}}</ref>

=== In the UK ===
''[[Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988]]'' defines a musical work to mean "a work consisting of music, exclusive of any words or action intended to be sung, spoken or performed with the music."<ref>[http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/3 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988], Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1988.</ref>

=== In India ===
In India The Copy Right Act, 1957 prevailed for original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work until the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1984 was introduced. Under the amended act, a new definition has been provided for musical work which states "musical works means a work consisting of music and included any graphical notation of such work but does not included any words or any action intended to be sung, spoken or performed with the music."<ref name="DAS2015">{{cite book|author=JATINDRA KUMAR DAS|title=LAW OF COPYRIGHT|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8eniCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA164|date=1 May 2015|publisher=PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.|isbn=978-81-203-5090-8|pages=163–64}}</ref>

There are several platforms offering music composition services online.<ref>Carry A Tune Studio. "Music Composition Services – Professional Custom Music Creation Online". ''carryatune.in'' [https://www.carryatune.in/music-composition/]</ref>