• Copyright protection has many applications to music.black copyright symbol image by Angie Chauvin from Fotolia.com
  
  Copyright law gives musicians and songwriters exclusive rights to copy, sell, distribute and perform their works, prohibiting others from doing so without permission. Copyright protection is guaranteed by the United States Constitution, and therefore falls under federal law. Because of this, there is no specific legislation found in Georgia state law that addresses copyright. Rather, the 1976 Copyright Act applies throughout the United States at all times.
  
  

Copying

• Section 106 of the Copyright Act gives artists the exclusive right to copy their works. This includes making a copy of digital and analog sound recordings, lyrics and music videos. This prohibition includes downloading music or music videos over the Internet, as well as posting lyrics to websites. This extends to Georgia.
  
  There are a few limitations to the rights granted by this section. A legally purchased sound recording or video may be copied for personal use; however, both the original and the copy must be kept. A copy of a legally purchased sound recording may be made for a performance if the original is unavailable. A copy may also be made for use in an educational institution for academic purposes.
  
  

Distributing or Selling

• Distributing or selling copies of protected works is an infringement of copyright. The law of "first sale" allows a person who has legally purchased a copy of a work to sell or give away that copy; however, if an additional copy is made, both the original and copy must either be kept or distributed to avoid infringement. This generally applies to music in the form of albums and videos. A copy of an album or video may be made, but the copy cannot be sold or given away without the original and vice-versa. This also applies to sharing music over the Internet. Uploading a digital music file to be downloaded by others is prohibited.
  
  

Performing

• Performing a copyrighted work, either using live instruments or the original recording, is an infringement of copyright unless performance rights have been purchased or permission from the author granted. Music venues will typically purchase performance rights from a variety of record companies to cover themselves legally.
  
  This protection also includes recording alternate versions of a work either for sale or free distribution. A notable exception to this rule is parody, in which permission from the author is not required; however, it must be defined as a clear parody in order to be permissible.