PropertyValue
rdfs:label
  • Sound recording performance right
rdfs:comment
  • A review of the history of the public performance right in the U.S. Copyright Act is helpful in understanding why the scope of public performance protection differs for sound recordings and musical works. While musical works have enjoyed a full right of public performance for over 100 years, the Copyright Act did not offer any legal protection to sound recordings until 1971, when Congress enacted a law that granted exclusive rights to reproduction and distribution to sound recording copyright holders as a response to the increased amount of unauthorized duplication of records and tapes. However, at that time, Congress decided not to grant sound recording copyright holders the right to control public performance, partly due to opposition by television and radio broadcasters and jukebox oper
dcterms:subject
dbkwik:itlaw/property/wikiPageUsesTemplate
abstract
  • A review of the history of the public performance right in the U.S. Copyright Act is helpful in understanding why the scope of public performance protection differs for sound recordings and musical works. While musical works have enjoyed a full right of public performance for over 100 years, the Copyright Act did not offer any legal protection to sound recordings until 1971, when Congress enacted a law that granted exclusive rights to reproduction and distribution to sound recording copyright holders as a response to the increased amount of unauthorized duplication of records and tapes. However, at that time, Congress decided not to grant sound recording copyright holders the right to control public performance, partly due to opposition by television and radio broadcasters and jukebox operators who resisted any changes to the Copyright Act that would require any additional royalty payments beyond those already mandated for songwriters and music publishers, and also because Congress considered the rights to control reproduction and distribution to be sufficient enough to address the immediate problem of record piracy.