No - remember the ridiculous situation when Paul McCartney paid Michael Jackson every time he sang one of his famous songs? Copyright can be traded as a 'thing' with value. Not music, but the UK programme Dad's Army had a character called Private Godfrey. Arnold Ridley wrote a very famous stage play that has been popular all over the country for over half a century. However, Ridley was at one point very poor and skint, so he sold the rights and never received a penny from that moment on. My bass playing hero, Herbie Flowers wrote that great bass line in Walk on the Wild side, but elected to take a fee for it, rather than any proper right. So tracking down the real copyright owner is actually not that simple. PRS can help as they have a database, but sometimes, they do not represent the original composer, so then you are on your own!