There is generally more than one owner of rights in any given track. The people who wrote the tune and the lyrics and/or their publishers own authors' rights, which is the classic copyright. The artist that performs that music has certain 'related rights' as a performer. And a record label typically owns the copyright or producer's related rights in the particular recording of the song. Permission is needed from all of these people who created the music-or those to whom they have assigned their rights-in order to use the music.
Under copyright and related rights it is not legal to copy, adapt, translate, perform, or broadcast a protected work or recording, or put it on the internet, unless a specific exception exists in the copyright law of your country, or unless you have permission from all of the relevant owners of rights.
Copyright and related protections apply in virtually every country. In fact they are required by international law in the 150 countries that are members of various copyright treaties, and the 145 countries that are members of the World Trade Organisation.
The question of whether you are doing copying for profit may affect what penalties apply, but does not determine whether you are in breach of copyright.
The legal case against the illegal file-sharing service Napster proved the point. The court found that users of that peer-to- peer service were engaged in 'commercial' copying even though no money changed hands. The key ruling of the court was that 'Napster users get for free something that they would ordinarily have to buy.' Napster, 114 F. Supp. 2d, at 912.
The laws of some countries have limited exceptions to the owners' rights to control copying, which allow a limited number of copies to be made strictly for personal and private use.
Under New Zealand copyright law these exceptions do not apply, if you make available or transmit copyright material over the internet, distribute copies, or (in many countries) copy from illegal sources. In short, the law does not allow peer-to-peer transfers of copyright material. This is 'public' copying among millions of users.
In 2008 the Copyright Act 1994 was updated and now allows purchased music to be format shifted for playback on other personal devices. It is now legal to format shift for personal use, a legitimately purchased and owned sound recording, into another form, such as MP3, for playback on devices owned by a household, one copy per device. For example, it is legal to copy the music from your own purchased CD to the MP3 format for playback on a portable MP3 player you or your household own. It is however not legal to make multiple copies of the original format. The law does not permit the direct copying of a CD or music file to the same format. It is only legal to shift the format of the original recording for personal use on another device. The other important condition that must be met is that the original sound recording and the copy made must not be sold on or shared with others.
Where people persistently make music available on the internet in breach of copyright laws, they are in effect acting as copyright thieves and that exposes them to the risk of legal action by the copyright holders.
Owners of copyright and related rights regularly take action to remove illegal material from the internet and to seek civil or criminal sanctions against infringers. Hundreds of millions of music files are removed from the internet each year through co-operation between internet service providers and the music industry.
Civil and criminal lawsuits have been taken against internet infringers in many countries. In 2006 in New Zealand a man was jailed for 9 months, fined and had computer equipment confiscated for trading in burnt CD-Rs of copyrighted material. This was the first term of imprisonment for copyright infringement in New Zealand and reflects the serious view the courts take on this matter.
Generally, yes. While some very old songs may have fallen into the public domain, the vast bulk of those that appear on the internet are still under copyright protection.
The fact that a song or a track is no longer offered commercially by its creators is not relevant. It's their music, and copyright gives them the right to withdraw their work from commercial publication if they like.
That's fine if you're allowed to so by the holder of the rights. Some commercial sites let you listen to clips from particular songs, or sample a limited download of tracks from their service, as a 'taster' of the music.
But there is no general right or exception that lets you copy before you buy without permission, for the obvious reason that once something is copied it probably won't be bought.
The vast bulk of peer-to-peer 'file sharing' is considered illegal copying and transmission of copyright material. But this is a matter of choice for the rights owners involved. It's fine if the owners of rights for any particular song agree that it could be put on a peer-to-peer service and copied and transmitted without payment or restriction.
Most rights owners do not do this, however, because they see peer-to-peer activities as hurting sales of music and the livelihoods of people in the business.
You are likely to be breaking the law whether you are uploading one copyrighted song or thousands. Of course the impact on the legitimate music community of what you are doing is more serious the more music you are illegally uploading.
These excuses are not recognised by copyright. The law looks to the reality of what is happening-unauthorised transmission and reproduction of somebody else's music-rather than 'fine print' that is clearly false.
Internet activities of this sort typically involve acts of copying, transmission, or distribution in both countries, so both countries' laws would apply. Copyright owners usually take action in the country in which the infringer is located, however.
Among most of the countries where the internet is prevalent, there are international agreements in place allowing court judgements in one country to be enforced in the other. This process would be typically used only in complicated or unusual cases.
The laws are the same for digital files as for physical copies.
Reproduction, distribution, digital transmission of sound recordings, even samples in many cases, must be authorized by the copyright owners. Uploading music from a CD that you own, allowing people to download music from your web site, downloading sound recordings and filesharing without express permission from the copyright owner are all violations of the Copyright Act 1994 and illegal.
The New Zealand Copyright Act 1994 provides civil and criminal consequences to infringing copyright. The maximum criminal penalty is 5 years imprisonment and/or $150,000 fine.
Civil action, being sued for damages, is judged on each case´s merits and can involve not only financial penalties but also seizure and confiscation of items used, e.g. computers.
Aside from the cost to you, the creators of the stolen music receive no payment for their work and that affects their livelihood and the ability to dedicate themselves to creating the music you enjoy.
Stealing music is selfish and short-sighted and shows no respect.
