How it all works

Copyright is a legal right that generally belongs to the original creator of a work.

Copyright protects literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works. It also protects sound recordings, films, published editions, performances and broadcasts. A song may have more than one copyright. The lyrics will be protected as a literary work and the music as a musical work. A recording of the song will also be separately protected as a sound recording.

Generally the composer or author of music or lyrics is the first owner of copyright in the work.

However, if you create music or lyrics as part of your employment, your employer is usually the first owner of copyright.

Similarly, if you create a work under the direction or control of a government body, the government would own copyright in the absence of an agreement to the contrary.

• Commissioned works: If you are commissioned to write music or lyrics, the person who commissioned you does not automatically owns the rights in the work, unless there is an agreement to this effect or unless they are “the Crown”. They will, however, have a right to use the work for the purpose for which it was commissioned. In these circumstances it is advisable to clarify the rights of both parties in a written agreement.
• Works created in collaboration: If you collaborate with others in writing music or lyrics, it is also advisable to have a written agreement clarifying who owns the rights in the resulting work. You may be regarded as joint authors under the law. Failure to clarify ownership at the time may result in lengthy and difficult disputes further down the track.
• Sound recordings: The person who pays for the sound recording to be made will usually be the first owner of copyright in the recording. The performers on the recording may also be joint owners of copyright in recordings. Advice on ownership questions and assistance with drafting these agreements can be obtained from the Copyright Council of New Zealand.

Copyright owners in music and lyrics have a number of exclusive rights.

Anyone who wants to use a protected work in any of the ways outlined below will usually need the copyright owner’s permission. He or she may also have to pay a royalty.

Copyright owners have the right to:

• Reproduce the work: This includes recording the music or lyrics onto a CD, a film soundtrack, or onto a computer disk. It also includes reproducing the music or lyrics as sheet music.
• Publish the work: This means making your work available to the public for the first time.
• Perform the work in public: This includes playing the work live at a venue, playing a recording of the work in a venue, business or work place, and showing a film containing the work.
• Communicate the work to the public: This includes communicating the work over the Internet, via a music on hold system or by television or radio broadcasting.
• Make an adaptation of the work: This includes arranging or transcribing music, or translating lyrics.
• Rent a recording of the music: This is the right to control the rental of recordings (on CD for example) of the work.

In the music industry, these rights are usually grouped in the following way:

• The mechanical right: This is the right to record a work on record, cassette or CD. This is usually administered by either AMCOS or by music publishers.
• The synchronisation right: This is the right to use music on the soundtrack of a film or video and is usually administered in the same way as the mechanical right.
• The performing right: This is the right to perform a work in public or to communicate a work to the public. It is administered by APRA.

There is a separate copyright in the sound recording of a musical work (with or without lyrics). The person or company that owns the rights in the recording owns the right to copy it, record it, perform it, communicate it to the public or rent it out.

Copyright lasts for the life of the author + 50 years

Generally copyright in music and lyrics lasts for the life of the author or creator, plus 50 years after the end of the calendar year in which the author dies.

If the work was not published, broadcast, performed or records of the work had not been offered or exposed for sale to the public until after the creator’s death, copyright will last for 50 years from the end of the calendar year of first publication, broadcast, performance or when records of the work were offered or exposed for sale to the public.

• Print music translations, arrangements and published editions: Where music is arranged or lyrics are translated, there is likely to be a separate copyright in the arrangement or translation. Copyright in these will last for 50 years after the end of the calendar year in which the translator or arranger dies.
• Published editions: Another copyright exists in what is known as the published edition. Published edition copyright protects a publisher’s investment in the typesetting and typographical arrangement of the music and lyrics. Copyright in published editions lasts for 25 years after the date of publication. This copyright may still subsist even when the copyright in the music and lyrics have expired.

When copyright in a work expires, it is in the public domain and anyone can use it without having to obtain permission or pay a fee.

Copyright and registration are two separate things.

Copyright is free and automatic.

That's right—you don’t have to do anything to ‘get’ copyright; it's there from the moment you write down or record the song. So as soon as you create a new song or piece of music, you have copyright in it.

Register works with APRA AMCOS.

To ensure you receive royalties when your work is played or performed, you must register your songs and compositions through the Writer Portal or App.

If you write or compose your own songs, you may be eligible to join APRA. You'll also need to match one or more of the following criteria:

• You or someone else performs your songs live OR
• Your songs are broadcast on radio or TV OR
• Your songs are available to stream online.

You can't join if you're a member of an overseas Performing Rights Organisation. If you're in a band, only the members who write or compose music need to join.

Join today

Joining AMCOS is separate from joining APRA. You may want to join AMCOS if you have unpublished works released on a recording for sale to the public or reproduced in a production music recording. You can join AMCOS if:

• You're a copyright owner of musical works;
• You don't already belong to an overseas mechanical rights organisation;
• At least one of your works is unpublished and has been commercially reproduced eg: available on a digital music service like Spotify or Apple Music, released as a physical product by a third party, or reproduced in a production music recording.

OneMusic is a joint licensing initiative between APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ. OneMusic licenses businesses that use music on behalf of APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ, who return the licence fees collected to music creators – songwriters, composers, music publishers, recording artists and record labels – as royalties.

Both are member organisations, which means that after administration costs all money collected is returned to music creators as royalties. Having permission to use music in a business setting is required by law, and a OneMusic licence grants businesses the permission they need to use essentially all commercially released music from anywhere around the world.

An APRA AMCOS licence covers the majority of copyright music being played, except:

• Music which is out of copyright. A licence is not required for these works.
• Copyright music where the rights holders have not assigned the performing rights to APRA AMCOS or one of our overseas affiliates.
• “Royalty-free” (or directly-licensed) music where the music is in copyright, but the rights holder does not require the user to obtain any additional licence.
• Music which is specially written for dramatic performances, such as musicals, operettas and ballets (also known as Grand Right works). To use this music, you need to get permission from the rights-holder directly.

If you believe you may be using music which does not require an APRA AMCOS licence, please contact us for further information.