Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough: The Necessity of the Recording Industry’s Retention of Ownership of Sound Recordings in Response to the Copyright Act of 1976’s Termination of Rights Provision

Abstract

The Copyright Act of 1976’s Termination of Rights provision will soon allow musicians to file a notice of copyright termination to regain ownership of our generation’s most beloved musical hits. The recording industry’s strongest defense to the notices of copyright termination is to take preventative measures asserting the musicians created the songs under a “work for hire” legal relationship. This article proposes the recording industry is best suited to exploit the musical works in order to fulfill one of the foundations of copyright law of making works available to the public.

Keywords: copyright, entertainment, recording industry, music, musicians, termination of transfer, intellectual property