.jpg)
Feargal Sharkey, Chief Executive of UK Music, has launched a new website to teach studentsabout the importance of copyright.
I don't have to tell you how important music making is to primary schools. The very act of creating music can have hugely positive consequences - enabling students to express themselves, to build confidence and to master new skills.
But as well as providing education and entertainment, music also matters to the wider economy. In a nation where the success and viability of the creative industries has never been so vital, intellectual property will provide a key building block to this country's future. Increasingly, more and more of today's students will go on to work in creative industries.
For that reason, it is becoming increasingly important to convey information about what copyright is, how it works in practice and why it is the currency of creativity.
Of course, achieving this aim, particularly with younger age groups, represents a huge challenge. I completely understand how copyright can appear a somewhat daunting and abstract subject. This is precisely why UK Music - with the help of wonderful music teachers such as Leonora Davies - has developed a free online resource called Sound Rights.
Though it was launched specifically to support teaching in a new area of the KS3 curriculum, Sound Rights contains activities and information that would work well with younger classes already using Sing Up's
Song Bank resource.
The Create and Song sections, in particular, enable students to think about how songs affect their moods, the important of music in our culture, how songs evolve, and about the power of music to educate and inspire.
Ultimately, Sound Rights aims to help students on all ages understand more about the value of music through increased listening and learning opportunities.
I urge you to visit our site and try it for yourself. If you have any more questions, myself and the UK Music team would love to hear from you.
About copyright
Copyright protects original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, sound recordings, films, broadcasts and the typographical arrangement of a published edition. Every song comprises two copyright works - the music itself (a musical work) and the lyrics (a literary work). If you own the copyright in either type of work, you have the sole right to do or authorise someone to do any of the following:
- Copy the work
- Issue, lend or rent copies of the work to the public
- Perform, show or play the work in public
- Communicate the work to the public (i.e. broadcast it via television, radio, online, etc.)
- Adapt the work
If you are the composer of the music or the author of the lyrics, copyright legislation also provides you with the moral right to be identified as the creator of the work, and to object to derogatory treatment of the work. In the UK, copyright in a musical or literary work generally lasts for 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the composer or author dies. A sound recording is generally protected for 50 years from the end of the year in which the recording is made, and a typographical edition is protected for 25 years from the end of the year of publication. Works that are no longer in copyright are sometimes known as 'public domain'.
Useful places for further information:
Keep an eye on our website - we will be uploading more information about copyright and licensing soon. In addition to the Sound Rights website mentioned above, here's a list of useful places to find out more:
It looks like no one has commented yet. Be the first!