Features
What you get:
- Unlimited uploads
- A safe community for young people
- Online portfolios of work for assessment
- Exclusive charts and competitions
NUMU is ideal for:
- Schools
- Community Music Organisations
- Music Services
- Supporting Musical Futures approaches
It's easy to:
- Set up and run your own online publishing and record label
- Upload and promote original music
- Communicate and collaborate with peers
- Assess student progress
Copyright Questions
Some important information on copyright
If your questions are not answered by this help section please contact us
What is copyright?
Copyright, also known as intellectual property or IP, allows people to own the fruits of their creativity in the same way that they can own physical property.
It enables creators to earn money from their work. It also protects their work and allows them to control how other people use it. It is an enormous incentive for people to carry on being creative and contributing to culture, society and the economy in the UK.
Copyright law aims to balance the interests of those who invest their time and effort in creating work, with those of the people who want to use and enjoy that work.
How could I earn money from my song?
Copyright enables you to earn money (royalties) from a song in various ways:
- If you compose a musical work (e.g. music and/or lyrics of a song, or an opera), your copyright entitles you to payment whenever the song is:
- Performed or broadcast in public e.g. in a pub, at a live concert, on the radio, via the internet, or even as background music in a shop. This is known as a ‘performing’ royalty. Or;
- Recorded or copied onto different formats, either as a hard copy, like a CD, or as a download. This is called a ‘mechanical’ royalty.
As it is very complicated to try and collect your own royalties, creators generally register with a ‘collecting society’ which does this on their behalf.
- MCPS-PRS Alliance collects performing and mechanical royalties (www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk)
- PPL collects any royalties generated by sound recordings (www.ppluk.com)
Other ways to earn money include:
- If you compose a musical work for commission (often for films and TV series).
- If you allow your song to be used in other media such as films, computer games, commercials (this is called ‘synchronisation’).
Payment for commissions or synchronisation is usually based on an individual contract rather than organised through collecting societies.
What are ‘moral rights’?
‘Moral’ rights are an additional form of protection which give the creator the right to be identified as the author of that piece of work and enable him or her to stop other people from using their work in a way they don’t like.
How can I copyright my music?
As soon as you create an original musical work i.e. it is not copied from someone else’s work, and it is recorded in some form, written, audio or visual, you automatically own the copyright in that work.
However you may want to take some extra precautions so that you can prove that it is your work in case anyone copies or uses it without permission in the future.
- You should always write the international copyright symbol ©, the name of the copyright owner (i.e. you the creator) and the year in which the work was first written clearly on the original and on every copy of the work. Anyone who uses your work will then be made aware that it is protected by copyright, (although it obviously can’t stop them from going on to use it without permission!).
- Put a copy of the work (on paper or as a recording) in an envelope, sign your name across the seal of the envelope and send it to yourself by recorded delivery. Do NOT open the envelope when you get it back but write the title of the work on the outside of the package (so you can remember what’s inside) and store it in a safe place. As long as the package has a date stamp and is unopened, this proves that your work existed at a certain date; this could be very useful if you ever need to claim for infringement of your copyright in future. (You would, however, still need to prove other criteria for example that the composer of the offending work heard or had access to your work in order to prove that your copyright has been infringed.)
Is my music eligible for copyright protection?
Music is eligible for copyright protection provided that it is original (ie not copied from any other musical work) and that it is written or recorded in some other form.
How long does my copyright last in the UK?
It generally lasts for the whole of your lifetime plus 70 years afterwards.
Why can’t I upload music to NUMU which includes samples from my favourite bands?
NUMU is about original creation, therefore we encourage you not to use other people’s music as it’s not a true demonstration of what you can do and it’s potentially illegal infringing the copyright of other people.
Sampling is the use of portions of other recordings which are incorporated into a new composition. When you sample someone's song/tune without permission, you might infringe copyright in the song itself (usually owned by the songwriter or their music publisher) and in the sound recording (usually owned by the record company).
If you want to use a sample in any other music you create, you must first obtain permission from the copyright owners. They are entitled to refuse permission or to charge you for its use. However, it is essential that you do this, otherwise you might endanger the possible successful release of your whole work.
Similar rules apply when you lift a melody or lyrics of an existing song and quote it in your musical work.
Why shouldn’t I use illegitimate music download services?
The unauthorised distribution of music over the internet is against the law and infringes the rights of composers, music publishers and record labels.
Equally important, there is strong evidence that unauthorised distribution means less music is sold. And this means there will be less incentive for up and coming creators and artists to create and record new music if no-one is prepared to pay for it! So you should always respect other people’s work, whether you are hoping one day to make money from your own musical talent, or you just enjoy listening to music and want to ensure the British music industry stays diverse and healthy.
There are lots of legal alternatives now available, and more and more people are using them. For more information see www.pro-music.org
Links
UK Intellectual Property website - www.intellectual-property.gov.uk
Pro-music - www.pro-music.org
British Music Rights – www.bmr.org
British Copyright Council - www.britishcopyright.org
Music Publishers Association: www.mpaonline.org.uk
British Academy of Composers and Songwriters: www.britishacademy.com
MCPS/ PRS Music Alliance: www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk
