A K-pop-based Explanation of Music Copyright Part 2.

Joseph Hwang

While copyright recognizes the creator's exclusive rights, some conceptual distinctions exist between the continental civil law system and the Anglo-American law system. Civil law is a legal system that originated from Roman law and was formed mainly in Germany and France in continental Europe. It was widely adopted in Eurasia and South America, while Anglo-American law is a legal system adopted by the Commonwealth of Nations and English-speaking countries. South Korea has adopted the continental civil law system, and the concept of copyright also reflects many of the ideas and philosophies of the continental civil law system. 

In the civil law system, the concept of copyright has developed in the tendency to recognize the creators' exclusive rights more fundamentally. The aspect of the author's right is more emphasized. In contrast, in the Anglo-American law system, the exclusivity of replication is more emphasized, so the name of the right is also called "copyright". As stated in the Korean Copyright Act, the purpose of the Copyright Act is to protect the rights of creators and promote fair use of the created works. There are two important legal interests. They are the rights of the creator and the promotion of the use of the creator's creation for users. 

These distinctions in copyright concepts have led to differences in copyright utilization schemes. The civil law system considers the creators' rights more fundamental, and therefore copyright accrues at the second the creator creates the work. Only the creation of the work is required for copyright to occur. This perspective has the effect of prioritizing the creator's rights over the exploitation of the work. In contrast, in the Anglo-American law system, the law requires a certain formality for copyright to be recognized, even if the creator creates the work. In other words, once the creator has created the work, he or she must register it with the Copyright Office to recognize exclusive rights. This is why the copyright system of the civil law system is called unmodalism, while the Anglo-American law system is called modalism or formalism.

Both formalism and informalism have advantages and disadvantages. While informalism may seem more advantageous from a creator's perspective, it is disadvantageous in promoting the use of works due to the absence of a uniform format. Moreover, since registration of works is not a duty, large-scale industrialization may lead to a lack of information or delays in the use of works when a uniform format is required. However, in formalism, registration is a basic requirement of copyright, which means that works must be registered with the Copyright Office in a particular format on the contrary this registration is a hassle for creators, it tends to increase royalties due to the convenience of use for users.

In addition to composers, lyricists, and arrangers who create musical works, music neighboring rights also extend to performers who perform those works and to phonogram producers who make recordings. For someone to use a musical work once, he or she must know the rights information of multiple rights holders and verify the authenticity of the information. To alleviate this problem, most countries' copyright acts have adopted a centralized administration method in which authors' copyrights are held in trust by a government-approved nonprofit organization, and the organization grants licenses on behalf of individual authors. I'll describe copyright trusts in more detail later. 

Apple was at the forefront of the transition from analog to digital music, developing the iPod and iPhone. As the era of infinite copying of recorded music became commonplace, the issue of copyright licensing emerged as a challenge. In the Anglo-American law system, the Copyright Office to register works made it easy to make meta-information about registered musical works available in a uniform format. It was indeed easier for the Anglo-American law system to establish a digital music market than the civil law system countries that adopted a no-format approach. This phenomenon proved that the copyright philosophy of the Anglo-American legal system, which had been more weighted toward promoting the use of works, had been more conducive to digital industrialization and had shifted the music industry's power to consumers more than before.

This was one of the reasons why South Korea's digital music market had been struggling. South Korea's Internet and technology industry was growing by leaps and bounds, but the national copyright system was structured not to support it. This legal barrier was one of the reasons why Apple was slow to enter the Korean music market compared to other countries.

To be continued in Part 3.

Series Articles

Part 1.

https://www.musicbusiness.co.kr/2024/08/a-k-pop-based-explanation-of-music.html

Part 2.

https://www.musicbusiness.co.kr/2024/08/a-k-pop-based-explanation-of-music_01103635833.html

Part 3.

https://www.musicbusiness.co.kr/2024/08/a-k-pop-based-explanation-of-music_01024960771.html

Part 4.

https://www.musicbusiness.co.kr/2024/08/a-k-pop-based-explanation-of-music_01817572733.html

Part 5.

https://www.musicbusiness.co.kr/2024/08/a-k-pop-based-explanation-of-music_0516893882.html

Part 6.

https://www.musicbusiness.co.kr/2024/08/a-k-pop-based-explanation-of-music_01156113459.html

Part 7.

https://www.musicbusiness.co.kr/2024/08/a-k-pop-based-explanation-of-music_01543027967.html

Part 8.

https://www.musicbusiness.co.kr/2024/08/a-k-pop-based-explanation-of-music_01386463567.html

Part 9.

https://www.musicbusiness.co.kr/2024/08/a-k-pop-based-explanation-of-music_01719355268.html