To what extent do you own your song?

Music composers share their creativity from only twelve notes in music. Of course there are several musical scales which give all sorts of melodies and chords. All music is derived from this pool and therefore, similarities occur in songs as musicians express their creativity. This brings the issues of ownership in to play, thus copyright emerging to protect everyone.

Copyright protects the original expression of an idea that has been reduced to a tangible form from being copied without authority.  It does not protect the concept or the idea. This is because one cannot have a monopoly over an idea. Copyright protection is automatic once an idea has been reduced to any tangible format. The Kenya Copyright Board offers notifications where although not a legal requirement allows rights holders to register their works. This helps in the creation of a database as well as assists in the enforcement of copyright.

It also does not protect symbols, titles, short phrases or factual information that may be contained in a copyright work.
Copyright applies to any medium.  This means that you must not reproduce copyright protected work in another medium without permission.
Examples of works protected by copyright

This includes, publishing photographs on the internet, making a sound recording of a book, a painting of a photograph and so on.

v  Dramatic works, including dance or mime

v  Musical works

v  Artistic works, including paintings, engravings, photographs, sculptures, collages, architecture, technical drawings, diagrams, maps and logos

v  Layouts or typographical arrangements used to publish a work, for a book for instance

v  Recordings of a work, including sound and film

v  Broadcasts of a work

v  Ownership of copyright

Upcoming musicians need to know how to protect their music through copyright. In Kenya the copyright board (KECOBO) is a state corporation under the office of the Attorney General and Department of justice and mandated with the administration and enforcement of copyright and related rights. The Board is responsible for organizing legislation on copyright and related rights; conducting training programmes on copyright and related rights; enlightening and informing the public on matters related to copyright; licensing and supervising the activities of collective management societies; and maintaining an effective databank on authors and their works.

The Kenya Copyright Board is comprised of members drawn from both the public and private sectors.  The members from the private sector are nominated by associations representing software, producers of sound recordings, publishers, film distributors, performers, broadcasting stations, musicians and the audio-visual industry. There are four experts on copyright and related rights and five members who are alternates to the Attorney General, Police Inspector General, Permanent Secretary - Ministry of Information, Permanent Secretary - Ministry of Sports, Culture and Arts, and the Permanent Secretary - Ministry of Finance.

While composing and singing is a gift, many musicians have found themselves being tempted to copy ideas which eventually kill their creativity.

With the above information, one is now informed that copyright issue is not something to ignore in the music industry.