Anyone whose life or career is involved with intellectual property needs
to know about and understand the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
That means anyone from musicians to film makers; even ship vessel haul
designers. In 1998 the DMCA was passed into law marking some of the most
significant amendments to United States Copyright law since 1976. The
recent inceptions of downloadable media, peer to peer file sharing and
digital media copyright piracy on a massive scale, have also made the
DMCA extremely significant in its time.
Congress did't decide to draft the DMCA just because of new technological
advances affecting intellectual property – it was also compelled
to act because of international treaty obligations. In 1996 the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) drafted two amendments to the
Berne Convention. WIPO is one of the specialized agencies of the United
Nations dedicated to the protection and promotion of intellectual property
throughout the world. The Berne Convention, first drafted in 1886, was
the first treaty to create an international agreement on copyright law.
The treaties passed in 1996 were the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the
WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT). In order to comply with
these treaties the US needed to amend its own copyright law. The DMCA
was created to fulfill the needed amendments and included some additional
changes to update the law.
The following are two summaries of the act minus all the legal jargon.
The DMCA has a lot of parts that are really irrelevant to the music world
so one version contains the entirety of the Act and the other contains
a more in depth look at just the parts that will matter to people in the
music business.
Keep in mind that these summaries are designed to give Joe and Jane Creator
a better understanding of their rights and the laws that pertain to their
business. They should by no means be used as a reference in court or
in lieu of the legal expertise of an attorney.
Article
continues. Choose your path
If you want
to know specifics about the DMCA, go here
If you area
a musician and just want to know about the parts of the DMCA that
apply to you, go here
When this article was written, Brett Keller was a music industry student at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
Check out these websites offer tons of current resources, tips, articles,
links, and connections for bands and artists.
CD Baby A
fantastic, practical way for indie musicians to sell CDs online and to post their digital tracks to all the major online music services.
Host Baby
From the folks at CD Baby, an affordable web hosting service with very
practical features for musicians including an online calendar, guestbooks,
links to online sales, and special email capabilites.
Just Plain Folks
With a membership of over 42,000 songwriters, Just Plain Folks has become
one of the best ways for musicians and songwriters to network, share resources,
and work together.
KnowtheMusicBiz is an online community for emerging artists, musicians and music executives. KTMB members can find, exchange and contribute valuable information about the business of music plus get advice and insight from industry thought leaders.
Independent
Online Distribution Alliance (IODA) helps independent labels to build a legitimate online
presence and ensuring their fair share in the digital music future.
TuneCore helps indie and unsigned bands have their music available on all the best digital music stores. Band keeps all the royalties for sales.
Ariel Publicity Great website chock full of novel ideas about how to use new technologies to your advantage to promote and distribute your music.
Indiecentre is a great resource for bands, musicians and aspiring labels. Includes
a directory of resources for manufacturing, distribution, and helpful
articles about starting a label, touring, and promotion.
Indie-Music.com A mind boggling amount of information for indie musicians and labels.
Practical articles, links, advice.
TAXI acts as
a liaison between songwriters and major label A&R representatives. Artists
submit songs which are then critiqued by former major label employees,
and the strongest submissions are passed on to the A&R reps.
