ABSTRACT
Having a complete understanding of the music business includes the legal and protection end as well as the production and performing aspects. Theft in this business is as common as fraud and larceny anywhere else in the world. Under United States Copyright law, producer's ownership of a song begins as soon as they finish writing the song. As long as he or she has not entered into a written agreement which gives the copyright to someone else, the creator of the song is presumed to be the owner of the copyright. There are four main sources of potential payment available to producers from the exploitation of their music: record sales and licensing income; mechanical royalties; performance royalties; and synchronization income. When producers write a song, they are initially both the songwriter and the publisher, meaning that they normally retain all of the publishing rights in their song, unless they elect to transfer ownership to some or all of them.
