Task One – Understanding copyright

When creating a music video you need to be careful as there could be legal implications if you have not followed the procedures and protocols correctly. The first thing that needs to be done is getting the permission to use the music in order to create the music video. There are different people who you are able to get the permission from and this either from the artist that has created the song or the label which the band are signed to. Without this permission if you were to continue and make the music video then you would be breaking copyright laws and could be sent to court but this is a very unlikely outcome as the video is not being used for financial gain in this case. In order to get copyright on a piece of music you do not need to get a legal document but merely need to be able to show that it was your creation. This can make it tricky when finding a song because no matter hat you will need to find the original artist and get permission.

There have been cases in the music industry between artists saying that some of the lyrics or the tune has been copied or changed. This can be trick ground when going to court over copyright charges because the laws are different in different countries which can make it hard to know what is right and what is wrong. In America copyright laws are a legal matter whereas in Britain it is a civil matter which means people have to take others to court with their money. 

To overcome these copyright laws there are a few things that can usually be done although in the case of the music most of these would not be able to be applied. The first one is taking a piece of the song or video and referencing it, meaning you say who the original person that made it was although this may not be applicable in this circumstance. Another thing that can be done and which has been done in the music industry is taking someone else's music or video and changing it so that it is unrecognisable. This is a risky move because there have been cases in the music industry where artists have said that another person has copied a part of their song but it is a tricky thing to solve because it is open to opinion. 

There has been a recent copyright lawsuit between Robin Thicke and Marvin Gaye. The legal action has been taken  based on similarities between “Blurred Lines” and each of “Got to Give It Up” and “Sexy Ways”. The reason for this court case is to discover whether  could the composers be held liable for copyright infringement if they were influenced and inspired by Marvin Gaye’s and Funkadelic’s prior works