Write a 8 pages paper on commonly used ways in which music copyrights have been exploited. One of the solutions came in the form of collection societies, but because fees reduced the received royalties, solutions are emerging lowering the cost of using agencies towards getting the royalties that are owed. Through an examination of the music industry and copyright law, an understanding of how the system works can be achieved.

The early development of the phonograph and the broadcast industry near the beginning of the 20th century set the course for publishing, but the development of music as a business actually came into existence in the 19th century. Early publishing was based on publishing song sheets, but the music had to prove to be saleable in order for the company to agree to publish the work (Baskerville and Baskerville 2010: 7). The initial income that was generated by the music industry was based upon the literature value of publishing song sheets, but as technology increased, so did the development of streams of income for the music industry.

Music began its long relationship with copyrights through the Berne Convention 1886 which established that the moral right of ownership of the property had an effect on the reproduction of a property. This was extended to the film by referring to it as a series of pictures in 1911 and in the Copyright Act of 1956 and then in the UK Performers. Protection Acts 1958-1972 began to solve the problems associated with copying protected intellectual property (Wagner 2007: 9-11).

The Americans would not sign on to the Berne Convention 1886 (Wagner 2007: 9). However, copyright is established as a right under the Constitution which supports a general belief in the concept of ownership. All subsequent American laws are developed from this foundation of law in their Constitution. The Copyright Clause is found under Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 (Wagner 2007: 12). Emerging sources of income in the early 20th century in the music industry were defined by performance.