There are many, many, many good articles out there explaining
the difference between the musical work copyright and the sound
recording copyright. However, I suppose there is no harm in adding
one more to drive the point home.
As mentioned in my previous article, 10 Questions for a Music Lawyer, understanding
the difference between these two copyrights is key to understanding
the music business generally. For artists, it is also key in
understanding how you make money!
During presentations at music conferences, I typically say to
the audience that if I were holding Stevie Wonder's Songs
in the Key of Life in my hand on vinyl, I am holding two
distinct copyrights: (1) musical work copyrights, which are the
songs (referred to as "musical work[s]" in the Copyright
Act) composed of lyrics, instrumentation, melodies, etc.; and (2)
sound recording copyrights, which are the master recordings that
embody the musical works (a performer also has a copyright in
