I can't find where that is explained thoroughly. This was claimed but not explained very well in the comments on the article. If I write some music and then later put out a cover version of another song set to that tune, how do I lose my copyright on the music I wrote?
Well, all kinds of weird cases can happen and I guess that's why lawsuits can happen, to tease out those kinds of distinctions. My guess is that you'd retain the copyright for your music but other people could still cover that song in the same way you did without paying you or getting permission.
I think the more disturbing question is, what if someone takes Coulton's original tracks to the song (they're available), re-records them (I could easily do it with my keyboard and some software samples), and does everything exactly the same except for singing "blah blah blah"? Sounds like that person could claim the entire resultant copyright and not owe Coulton, BGB, or Fox/Glee a damn thing.
Comments
I can't find where that is explained thoroughly. This was claimed but not explained very well in the comments on the article. If I write some music and then later put out a cover version of another song set to that tune, how do I lose my copyright on the music I wrote?
Well, all kinds of weird cases can happen and I guess that's why lawsuits can happen, to tease out those kinds of distinctions. My guess is that you'd retain the copyright for your music but other people could still cover that song in the same way you did without paying you or getting permission.
I think the more disturbing question is, what if someone takes Coulton's original tracks to the song (they're available), re-records them (I could easily do it with my keyboard and some software samples), and does everything exactly the same except for singing "blah blah blah"? Sounds like that person could claim the entire resultant copyright and not owe Coulton, BGB, or Fox/Glee a damn thing.