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.

This means that the moment you write a song, it's yours, and the country shall recognize it.

(2) Derivative musical works are also protected by law.

173.1. The following derivative works shall also be protected by copyright:

(a) Dramatizations, translations, adaptations, abridgments, arrangements, and other alterations of literary or artistic works xxx

This means that when you modify an existing song, that particular modification shall be attributed to you; but the right of the original owner over the original composition still stands:

173.2. xxx such new work shall not affect the force of any subsisting copyright upon the original works employed or any part thereof, or be construed to imply any right to such use of the original works, or to secure or extend copyright in such original works.

You may say, "Alright, alright, indeed I own my songs. Now what? Show me the money!"

(3) The "money" due you can be found on Section 177, as follows:

Section 177. Copyright or Economic Rights. - Subject to the provisions of Chapter VIII, copyright or economic rights shall consist of the exclusive right to carry out, authorize or prevent the following acts:

177.1. Reproduction of the work or substantial portion of the work;

177.2. Dramatization, translation, adaptation, abridgment, arrangement or other transformation of the work;

xxx;

177.4. Rental of the original or a copy of an audiovisual or cinematographic work, a work embodied in a sound recording, a computer program, a compilation of data and other materials or a musical work in graphic form, irrespective of the ownership of the original or the copy which is the subject of the rental; (n)

xxx

177.6. Public performance of the work; and

177.7. Other communication to the public of the work. (Sec. 5, P. D. No. 49a)

That paragraph is huge, man! Every serious music composer must understand this.

If still you can't see where the money really is, wait for my next post.