How Many Rights Live in One Song
Work, recording, performance — one song is a stack of things in law
Related
"Whose song is this?" is a hard question because a song is not one thing in law but a stack of things. Count the stack once, and everything downstream gets easier.
(This article explains structure, not legal advice; consult a professional for specific cases.)
Layer one: the musical work
Words and music are separable creations, each with authors (sometimes one person, sometimes two teams). The formal name for this layer is the musical work (lyrics and music).
- It exists without registration — it is born when creation is finished (registration only helps prove it);
- It protects the created elements: melody, harmony, lyrics — not "the sound of this song";
- Authors may assign or license it (to publishers, platforms, anyone) — but what moves is usually the economic side; moral rights like attribution are treated separately (see moral rights and economic rights).
Layer two: the recording
Recording a work creates a new protected object: the sound recording (a disc, an audio file). It usually belongs to the producer of the recording — whoever financed and organised that session.
Crucially: the recording's rights and the work's rights are independent. One song may have countless recordings, each owned by its own producer — while the work layer remains a single thing throughout.
An attached layer: performance
The performers (singer, players) in a given performance hold rights in that performance — part of the "neighbouring rights" family (see neighbouring rights).
Why the layers must be kept apart
Because which layer your action lands on decides whom you must talk to:
- Re-recording a song → the work layer (mechanical licence);
- Putting a particular recording into a video → the recording layer (plus the work layer);
- Public playback → the performance/broadcast channels.
"Two owners for one song" sounds like trouble; it is actually the premise of a functioning industry — each layer negotiates, charges and licenses independently.
Wording in the Chinese context
Chinese copyright law names the recording layer "sound recording product", parallel to the "musical work"; the structure broadly matches the international system, with its own rules and remedies (see Chinese copyright notes).
Listen: two notes, together and apart
Work and recording are like two notes: they can sound together (the finished product) or stand separately (score and recording on their own). Hear how these two relate.
Next
- Which licences each layer needs: the licensing family.
- The personal side inside rights: moral rights and economic rights.
- The smallest unit of creation: Melody.
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Sources
- 本文为音乐权利结构的通识性介绍，以中国著作权法与通行的国际制度为背景，不构成法律意见
- 涉及的曲目均标注来源与许可档位，可在线试听
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.