Copyright: Harmonies?

Jack Russell

Jack Russell

I smell home cookin!
Does anyone know if a vocal harmony is considered part of a song's copyright?

I know it comes down to melody, words, and chords (I think), but isn't harmony really more than just background color?

Think of "California Dreaming". I just bet that 4-part vocal HAS to be unique and be the essence of the song.
 
Generally, no the arrangement is not copyrightable.

Jack Russell said:
Does anyone know if a vocal harmony is considered part of a song's copyright?

I know it comes down to melody, words, and chords (I think), but isn't harmony really more than just background color?

Think of "California Dreaming". I just bet that 4-part vocal HAS to be unique and be the essence of the song.
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If you apply for a copyright of the recording - then the contents of the recording are included in the copyright (including the arrangement).

However, if you simply apply to copyright the song (normally - the lyrics, melody and basic chord progression) then as fraserhutch correctly indicated, the vocal harmony is not part of the copyright.
 
I do not think arrangements are copyrightable.


mikeh said:
If you apply for a copyright of the recording - then the contents of the recording are included in the copyright (including the arrangement).

However, if you simply apply to copyright the song (normally - the lyrics, melody and basic chord progression) then as fraserhutch correctly indicated, the vocal harmony is not part of the copyright.
Click to expand...
 
fraserhutch said:
I do not think arrangements are copyrightable.
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I think I agree with fraserhutch. I know you can copyright entire recordings (even of more than one tune), such as to the U.S. Library of Congress, but I think they merely keep the tape on file in case it ever comes up in litigation. In that case it is the date upon which they awarded the copyright for the tape that matters, not so much the contents of the tape.

So, then, as I understand it, the litigation would go to what is in the recording: the words, melody, and basic chords, and probably not the harmonies.

Parhaps??? :confused:
 
If you copyright a sound recording - you are protecting a "series of sounds" which are on that recording. By default that would include harmony vocals.

If you research any of the copyright disputes related to sampling - it becomes rather evident that a sample of a recorded work (which certainly could include vocal harmonies) is protected.

I stand by my original post - vocal harmonies are not proteced if the song is copyrighted - vocal harmonies (which is in essence part of the song arrangement) are protected if the recording is copyrighted.

As an example, if someone wrote a song that had many of the the same words or much of the melody of "California Dreaming" there may be a copyright infringment of the written song. However, if someone used the recorded work (including the vocal harmonies which the Mamas & Papas are famous for) then there may be an infringment on the copyright of the recorded work.
 
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