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Everything you want to know about German music law, European copyright law and international law.
We advise artists, musicians, composers, lyricists, producers as well as media, publishing, production and distribution companies of all sizes in all matters of national and international music law. Nonetheless, we are specialist lawyers for copyright and media law.
Our music law focus also includes the following services:
Licence agreements, remuneration agreements as well as publishing agreements, edition agreements and publishing administration agreements including the drafting of contracts for the production of sound, film and data carriers
including publishing law, press law, internet law, music law, film law, television law and event law as well as contract drafting for film and television productions (script contracts, exploitation contracts, production agreements etc), media employment law
Management contracts, agency contracts, consultancy contracts and promotion contracts; media cooperation contracts and merchandising contracts
such as access control systems and copy protection systems, in particular copy protection for audio CDs, DVDs as well as film and multimedia DVDs, Blue Ray and other data carriers or cloud systems
for authors with production and distribution companies or support for the production and distribution companies
and evaluations, in particular in the sub-areas of design and art, as well as in the case of linguistic works, audio works & visual works
National and international rights management
Judicial and arbitral enforcement of all kinds of copyright claims, also in preliminary injunction proceedings and in international legal relations. Music law litigation and disputes
We are your legal team for music law located in the city center of Hannover. We are modern, flexible and have experience. Send us an email. We will get back to you.
A composer can NOT transfer the copyright of a musical work. This is also not possible by means of a contract. However, it is possible to grant others a right to use the work for particular agreed purpose. In order to do this, a licence agreement must be concluded. This latter contains the most important information about the scope of use and the remuneration.
German copyright law applies until 70 years after the death of the author. This means that as long as the composer is alive, the copyright is in its hands. After his/her death, it passes to his heirs for a total of 70 years. Only then is it considered “in the public domain”. Then anyone may perform the piece of music in public without permission or remuneration.
Attention: If publishers, record companies or performing musicians have acquired a right of exploitation beforehand, this right continues to exist!
Do you have any other questions according to this topic? Make sure to send us an e-mail. Law is our passion. Law is what we care about. Contact us.
Cover version
A cover is a new edition of a piece of music. If lyrics and melody remain the same, musicians have to pay royalties. It does not matter if other instruments are used or if the melody is sung in a different voice pitch than in the original.
Editing
In the case of extensive changes to the melody and/or lyrics of the piece of music and if the original work is still clearly recognizable, the consent of the composer is required and a license agreement must be signed.
Remix
In a remix, the song is remixed or given new instrumentation. Here, too, the following applies: If the original work is still recognizable, usage rights must be acquired.
Free use
If a piece of music is changed in such a way that it is hardly recognizable, it may be used without the consent of the author. This is called “free use”. In practice, however, there is hardly any free use of musical works.
Are you an artist looking for your professional music-law specialized legal team?
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