A copyright grants protection under the law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible form of expression. Copyright protection affords the composer six exclusive rights which roughly correspond to various licensing processes and revenue streams:
- The right to reproduce the work
- The right to create a derivative work, meaning an adapted work that is directly based on the copyrighted work
- The right to publicly distribute copies of the copyrighted work through sale or for free
- The right to publicly perform the artistic work
- The right to publicly display the artistic work
- For sound recordings: the right to publicly perform the recording through digital audio transmission (not applicable to compositions)
