LAW AND MUSIC: COPYRIGHT AND NEIGHBORING RIGHTS
LAW AND MUSIC: COPYRIGHT AND NEIGHBORING RIGHTS

Summary/Abstract: Both composition and performance are considered creative acts: nevertheless, composers enjoy specific Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), which are not attributed to performers. This originates from a long history, which identified creativity with originality: in Romanticism composers had to write original works because only those works which showed genius and originality were considered copyrightable. Yet at present many researchers deem that each composition is (at least in part) a plagiarism. Unlike composers, performers have not to show originality, but to choose one or more famous performers as their role models, inserting themselves in existing performing styles. However, research demonstrated that performers are always creative, either in playing classical repertoires or in performing aleatoric music or jazz. Should therefore higher IPRs protection be recognized to performers? Or vice-versa, should lower IPRs protection be recognized to composers? This study tries to analyze the most important steps in the history of copyright law, and claims that a balance between IPRs and public domain could benefit either musicians or the society as a whole, promoting progress in science and the arts.

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