The A collection of notes, melodies, chords, rhythms, arrangements, instrumentation, and more, excluding lyrics. of a An original musical composition with or without lyrics. is its collection of notes, melodies, chords, rhythms, An alteration of a pre-existing musical work that may incorporate changes to, for example, tempo, harmony, instrumentation, and orchestration., The selection and combination of musical instruments. and more, excluding The words written to be performed by singers, rappers, and other vocalists..
In classical music, Anyone who contributes to creating or performing a musical work, a live performance, or a sound recording. who write the composition in a notated form on The musical notes, scores, bars, text, annotations, and lyrics written or printed documenting a musical work. It may also include instructions about how the musical work should be performed. are called composers.
In modern music, creators who write the composition are called A person who makes an original contribution to the creation of a musical composition or lyrics. more often than composers, except in the context of composing for films, television, and video games. Songwriters often write lyrics, too, but composers only write the composition and instrumentation.
Copyright ownership for composers
Composers and all additional songwriters, such as A type of creator that writes the words of a musical work., A songwriter that focuses primarily on writing the vocal melody and, in most cases, also the lyrics of a musical work., A type of creator that composes instrumental music, which lays the foundation for new musical works., etc., who make an A creative contribution to a musical work that is sufficiently distinct from any pre-existing musical work contribution to the musical work are considered under National laws that protect creators' and other rights holders' moral and economic rights in musical works, performances, and sound recordings.. Therefore, they can all own a share of the The controls creators or rights holders have over what they have created or produced and over their identity and image. in the musical work; it's like sharing a pie.
Agreeing and properly documenting each author's share, also called Also sometimes referred to as shares, the portion of ownership a rights holder has or the portion of income they are entitled to., is the first step for each author to receive a share of earnings if the musical work is used. Learn more about this in the Songwriter Splits and Registering Musical Works topics.
Alternative copyright scenarios for composers
Composers can also write or To write for and in the name of another person musical works in exchange for a flat fee or salary, often referred to as An arrangement that automatically grants ownership of musical works, performances, or sound recordings made under an employment contract to the employer rather than the creator.. In these scenarios, the composer's copyright ownership of the musical work may change based on labor laws or the agreement they sign.
You can find out more about this on the Work for Hire page.
Composers who have multiple creative roles
If you are a composer, you might also have additional roles when writing or recording a musical work, in which case you might also have additional shares in the ownership of that musical work and the Typically, the recorded performance of a musical work protected as a phonogram under copyright law..
Delve deeper into how this works in the Recording topic. To understand authors' rights in more detail, visit the Music creators' rights topic.
Image credit: Nils Emil Nylander