The principle that the work one has created belongs to the creator and should be controlled by them is a global concept. This principle is encoded in Copyright law. Copyright Law is the key element upon which intellectual property rights are created and it is from these property rights that musicians, composers, artists and authors derive their income. The U.S. Constitution Art. I Sec. 8 Cl. 8, lays the foundation of Copyright law by providing that “The Congress shall have Power… to Promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” As a copyright owner, an author would have certain exclusive rights over his works such as the Reproduction right (the right to make copies), the Adaptation right (the right to adapt the work into new works – such as translation of the work into a different language), the Public Distribution right (right to distribute copies of the work to the public), the Public Performance right (right to perform the work publicly – such as reciting the novel to the public) and the Public Display right (the right to display copies of the work in public). Copyright law thus prohibits the unauthorized duplication, adaptation or distribution of a creative work.
The Copyright statute does not define the tem “musical work.” A musical work is understood to comprise of both the music and the words that accompany it. All genres of music are covered by the term musical work. A musical work is different from a sound recording. The difference lies in the fact that a musician who composes music or writes a song is the author of a musical work, while a producer who records some sounds creates a sound recording.
The term Piracy is used to describe the deliberate infringement of a copyright on a commercial scale. Music Piracy refers to the illegal duplication and distribution of sound recordings. It mainly comprises of four specific forms – (i) bootleg recordings, (ii) pirate recordings, (iii) online piracy and (iv) counterfeit recordings. Bootleg recordings refers to the duplication, recording, and sale of a performance such as a live concert or broadcast without the permission of the artist or the Record Company which may be entitled to control the recording rights of the artist’s performances. Pirate recordings refer to the unauthorized duplications of music from legitimate recordings for commercial gain. The packing and presentation of a pirate copy does not usually resemble a legitimate commercial release. Online piracy refers to the unauthorized transfer of sound recordings from Internet sites. Counterfeit recordings are the unauthorized copying of the sound as well as the artwork, trademark, label and packaging of the original recording. The main aim of counterfeit products is to mislead the consumer into thinking that they are buying the genuine product.
The U.S. Recording Industry is represented by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). With a mission to foster a business and a legal climate to support and promote its members’ creative and financial vitality, the RIAA members create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legitimate recordings produced and sold in the United States. The RIAA is working to protect the intellectual property rights and First Amendment Rights of artists, conduct consumer, industry and technical research; and monitor and review state and federal laws, regulations and policies. One of the primary objectives of the RIAA is educating people about music piracy. The RIAA states in simple words that going online and downloading music without permission is as good as walking into a store and shoplifting. A report published by the Institute of Policy Innovation provides that global music piracy causes $12.5 billion of economic losses every year, 71,060 U.S. jobs lost, a loss of $2.7 billion in workers' earnings, and a loss