The music author as the ‘rightholder’
According to the Copyright Act, anyone who composes a piece of music or writes lyrics is the ‘rightholder’, the person who holds the copyright. Copyright applies automatically; the music author does not have to do anything extra to arrange this. Nevertheless, it may be sensible for him to register his creation. This can be done at a
tax office that has a ‘Registration and Succession’ department or with a notary public. He can also put a recording of his work in a sealed envelope and send it to himself by registered post. He subsequently keeps the unopened and date-stamped envelope in a safe place. This enables the music author to claim that he had already created it by that date.
What is a ‘work’?
A ‘work’ is of course a broad concept. According to the Copyright Act, the artistic or literary value of the creation does not matter. Whether or not the creator made it privately or professionally does not matter either. What does count is:
- originality
The creation must have its own personal and original character. You could say that it must be impossible for anyone else to have made precisely the same thing.
- sensory perceptibility
The creation must be visible, readable or audible, or must have been so.
Examples of protected musical creations:
- musical compositions
- all writings (song texts, poems, novels and diaries)
- theatrical works, choreography scores and pantomimes
- films and video clips
- paintings, drawings, cartoons
- photographs
Exceptions
A music author does not always have copyright on the creation. A few exceptions:
- as an employee
If a music author makes a composition or lyrics as part of his employment, his employer automatically has the copyright, unless other contractual agreements have been made about this.
- as part of a team
Another exception to copyright is a creation that has been made as a team, such as a song, opera or musical. In that case, the person under whose leadership the ensemble was created has the copyright. Another person can only claim copyright of his own specific part if it can easily be distinguished from the whole, e.g. the text or the composition.