Considering Copyright When Using Your Cd Burner

By Author: CD Duplication Plus
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If you have a CD burner you can take on all kinds of music projects. Before you do so, let's examine the subject of copyright. This is an area that you should become familiar with before using a CD burner. So the question is, what exactly is copyright? It is a tricky subject even for legal experts. Copyright relates to music so it also relates to those wanting to use a CD burner to copy music.

Copyright is the right to keep others from copying someone's original musical work. If you are using a CD burner to copy an original work without the owner's permission, you may be in copyright violation. People obtain copyright protection to prevent people from copying works like art, literature and music. It doesn't matter if the quality of the work is good or bad, if the work is original, you can not legally copy it. You can't use your CD burner and make a copy of a song even if it's the worst song ever written.

The work must actually be in permanent form to have copyright protection. An idea is not something that can be copyrighted. As long as the music has been written down or recorded, it can have a copyright. ...
... In most cases, then, any song you want to burn using a CD burner probably has a copyright.

There is more than one copyright to consider when using your CD burner. The lyrics are protected. The sound recording is protected for 50 years from the end of the year in which it was first recorded. There is also a copyright in the underlying composition and that lasts for 70 years from the end of the year in which the composer died. As you can see, music is protected very well from those wanting to copy it using a CD burner. Sometimes one recording can be protected by more than one person. The person who wrote the music might have copyright protection as well as the person who wrote the lyrics. A publishing company might also have copyright protection on the same recording. If you want to use a CD burner to copy the music you may have to get permission from all three places.

If someone owns a copyright, they are the ones who can reproduce the work. If you are not the person who owns the copyright and you want to make a copy using your CD burner, you must get permission. Many people use a CD burner to make copies of CDs for themselves or others. If you do not own the copyright on the music you can not legally make a copy. The same thing is true if you want to make a copy of a CD to rent or lend to someone else. If you don't own the copyright you can not do this.

It's a good idea to know about copyright laws before using your CD burner to make copies of music CDs.
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