Gimmie That Beat

Today’s Topic: The Harry Fox Agency (HFA) Under US copyright law (and in most other developed countries), an individual has copyright ownership in his/her original musical composition as soon as he/she fixes it in a “tangible medium” (like writing it down or recording it). One of the important ways in which composers can profit from their creation of a new musical composition is when it is used in a sound recording (a “record”). When a musical composition is used in a record and a copy of that record is sold, the owner of copyright in that record (there can be many different sound recordings of any particular musical composition – think about all the different versions of “White Christmas”) pays a “mechanical royalty” to the composer under what is called a “mechanical license.” Under the mechanical license, the composer grants to the sound recording owner (usually a record company) the right to reproduce and distribute the copyrighted musical composition. The Harry Fox Agency (HF...