Copyright is a type of intellectual property including a design or trademark. This property allows an artist to own media that they have created etc. This is done in a way that it is similar to somebody owning a physical item. The Copyright law prevents others from copying someone else's work and taking credit for it. The Copyright is the name of the law that governs copyright in the UK. The law makes sure that if you do copy somebody's work and commit plagiarism you will receive a punishment or face consequences. The consequences vary and can be as small as being told to delete your copied work or all content from your computer may be removed. Larger penalties include being fined up to and over $100,000 or facing a jail sentence.
An example of copyright is the song 'Blurred Lines' by Robin Thicke, T.I and Pharrell Williams. The artists were fined $7.4 million because Marvin Gayes family believed that 'Blurred Lines' copied aspects of Gayes 1997 song 'Got to Give it Up'.
A similar situation is occurring with artists Justin Bieber and Usher as their collaboration 'Somebody to Love' was accused of copying parts of a song written by two Virginian writers. The artists must face jury and may be forced to pay a total of $10 million.For my coursework I am creating a music video but using a song that already belongs to a current artist. To avoid breaking the copyright law, I emailed the copyright holder in order to get permission to use the song. Applying for the right to use to song would mean I would avoid being sued by Aplin's record label. This was also compulsory as a part of my media course so I could show the exam board that I had applied for the right to use the song. If I did not apply for copyright then my video would have probably gotten flagged on YouTube and removed from the website or I could have received a fine from the artists record label.
I searched for the record label that Gabrielle Aplin is signed to on the internet and from her Wikipedia page I found that her record label is called Parlophone. I followed the link to the companies website whereby I found an email address that I could send my permission letter to. The email I sent stated that I would like to use the song and explained that it was for my A level coursework and then asked for permission to do so.
I have not yet received a response from Warner Bros about creating this music video and will not attempt to contact them again.
This post demonstrates some understanding of why music copyright is essential to carry out. You have included an example from the industry, where the law was broken, but you need to elaborate on the points that you have included, to demonstrate further understanding of the industry.
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