The Anatomy of Music Piracy

What's clear about music piracy is, it's stealing. The surprising question after that is, "what constitutes stealing?" Then all hell breaks loose. Their is much debate on that question as we speak.

Typing "music piracy" in Wikipedia will redirect you the "Copyright infringement." No sweat, it's the same thing. Wikipedia defines "music piracy" or "copyright infringement" as follows:

Copyright infringement (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized use of material that is covered by copyright law, in a manner that violates one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works. (Wikipedia)

Definitions in other sites do not vary as much. But in my arguments today, I''ll show that such definition is not only outdated and impractical, it also lacks in scope.

Music Industry in the Philippines - Part 4: Promotion

Promotion is the other area in the music industry where the record company's money gets sucked up dry. Why?

• Promotion Tool #1 - Radio Stations
• Promotion Tool #2 - TV Guestings
• Promotion Tool #3 - Print
• Promotion Tool #4 - Ring Tones

Radio Promotion


Radio alone is expensive. Trash the law on music copyright with respect to radio stations. The sad truth is, the music industry pays radio stations for playing the songs, never the other way around.

Music Industry in the Philippines - Part 3: Packaging & Replication

Packaging and CD replication are done almost at the same time. By the time the CD copies roll out, the packaging materials are ready. But anyone who produces his own music and sells it straight to his or her crowd in the internet may no longer need to read this post.

Packaging is everything that has something to do with the branding of the music album. That includes selection of the album title, carrier single, theme, images and material.

Design, Titles and Credits. The packaging contains colors and images, the title of the album, the title of the carrier single (if any), the titles of the songs, the label logo, the credits, etc. The list of songs include the names of the music composers.

Music Industry in the Philippines - Part 2: Music Recording

Music Recording is where the initial investment comes in. This is when someone --- either you or a record company --- gambles on your song and puts money into music recording, with the expectation of getting that money back when sales start to come in.

The most thrilling part in a music composer's life is music recording. Incidentally, music recording is also the most risky part for the record company's money.

And real success is still a long shot for a new artist today. Of the 32,000 new releases each year, only 250 sell more than 10,000 copies. And less than 30 go platinum. (Courtney Love, extracted from Salon.com)

Music Industry in the Philippines - Part 1: Musical Creation

How does the music industry in the Philippines operate? Does anyone know? Probably the more correct question is, does anyone care to know?

Music composers and artists are too engrossed in their music writing and performing skills (perhaps rightly so) that they leave the rest --- their bank accounts --- to the experts.

The question is, who are the experts? and whose interests are they really protecting? I don't mean to say the experts are bad people. No. All I'm saying is trust them but . . . verify, verify, verify.

Internet Radio Stations Pay 25% to Copyright holders

What does the agreement mean for big name internet radio stations? They will pay up to 25% of their revenue to copyright holders, in exchange for the right to play any music they so choose. (Source: dbtechno.com)

You wish that piece of news is from the Philippines, don't you? As a matter of fact, that piece of news comes from Boston, USA. Copyright owners there are "bitching" the radio stations as well "about not getting their royalty cuts from air time."

It's not just in the Philippines where music copyright holders complain against radio stations. "Music on actual radios is considered free promotion for the artist." The same argument you hear here.

Money in Music Copyright - Part 3: Performance Rights

Performance rights (or "performing rights") is the "right to perform music in public," as opposed to private performance, which is to be "within a normal circle of family and friends" (see Wikipedia's definition of "performing rights").

Potentially, performance rights fees can be a huge source of passive income for very good music composers (if rules are followed).

Remember Paul, our fictitious music composer? He just wrote a song that is a hit in the listening public, right? The ideal story for Paul with respect to performance rights fees will be as follows:

Money in Music Copyright - Part 2: Mechanical Royalty

The second "money" or royalty in music copyright is the mechanical royalty. Every music composer must familiarize themselves with mechanical royalty.

Mr. A-Producer will most likely produce an album of several songs, which can be as few as 5 songs, or as many as 16 songs. The next thing Mr. A-Producer does is to reproduce copies of the music CD and distribute these copies to the music stores.

For every CD sold, the composers are entitled to between 7.5% to 10% share of the wholesale price. If the CD is sold at a wholesale price of P100 (people buy it on retail at P200 or more), Paul and the other composer get between P7.50 to P10.  This is the mechanical royalty, or sometimes called "mechanical reproduction license fee"; But let's stick to "mechanical royalty" in this blog.

Money in Music Copyright - Part 1: Synchronization License

After reading laws on music copyright, Paul says, "Ok, now show me the money!"

Paul, our fictional music composer here, is one of a kind. "Show me the money" is a great thing to ask, but not all composers do that! I pray this blog will help music composers realize how much money they can lose when they don't ask that question.

There's another word for "money" in music copyright parlance. It's called royalties.

Because Paul has written a hit song, Paul shall see that royalties goes to his bank account in two ways: one-time and recurring.

The Law of the Philippines Protects Music Copyright

The law that protects music copyright in the Philippines is the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, aka RA 8293. The body that implements the law is the Intellectual Property Office.

I am not a lawyer, so, all I can share here are snippets of that law that I think are relevant to music copyright.

(1) Music copyright is an intellectual property protected by law from the moment of creation:

172.1. Literary and artistic works, hereinafter referred to as "works", are original intellectual creations in the literary and artistic domain protected from the moment of their creation and shall include in particular xxx (f) musical compositions, with or without words.

Even Churches in the Philippines Speak of Music Copyright

Praise Music Publishing calls on Christian Churches to pay music royalties too. Praise describes itself in its website as follows (emphases mine):

Praise Music Publishing and CopyCare Philippines are Divisions of Praise Incorporated set up in 1996 to begin the groundwork for Music Publishing and Licensing in the Philippine territory. Our administered catalogues include among others “God Is Good”, “There Is None Like You”, “I Will Be Here”, “Shout To The Lord”, “The Warrior Is A Child”, and many thousands more. These copyrights are regularly sung in worship services and other church-related events.

Those songs are indeed popular songs. And churches should pay royalties?

I know you cannot believe it.

Music is Alive and Well in the Philippines

I believe music is music is alive and well in the Philippines. The video below is that of Wendell Garcia and Karel Honasan, jamming together during the Tiendesitas Music and Arts Festival on May 17, 2009.

Music Copyright Marries Creativity and Money

What's the big deal about music copyright anyway? Music copyright is a marriage between creativity and money.

A painter paints pictures on canvas.  But musicians paint their pictures on silence.  ~Leopold Stokowski

The ideal story works this way.

John writes a song. He's so passionate about the song that he then makes a rough recording of the song in a home studio (talk about a room full of eggtrays, a microphone and a computer with recording software). Then he approaches Mr. Producer to listen to it.

Music Copyright in the Philippines

Music copyright in the Philippines occupied lots of my working hours for nearly six years. I used to work in a licensing company that serves independent composers. It has been months since I left it, but the stigma of the things I saw and discovered lingered.

Music copyright is MONEY. It affects the things people have on their tables. Not only is it money, it is a virtual real estate, or something that earns money for the music composer not just once, but over and over again, for as long as his or her musical creations are being used.