IP is the secret sauce for a flourishing music industry

Technology has created new challenges and paradigms for musicians' rights.

- Nicky Tan

Sitting in my attic are hundreds of lovingly preserved vinyl records (also known as LPs, or long-play records, for those who know) from my personal collection, which I built up painstakingly with every penny I saved (from my weekend job selling souvenirs to tourists in Carnaby Street in London) when I was training to be a chartered accountant in the 1980s.

More than just a collection of vinyl, they take me back to a time when music was not just listened to, but also appreciated and cherished. It was probably easier to navigate the issues of artistes' rights and ownership then.

Fast-forward to today where technology has brought new conveniences and opened markets.

For many years now, I have gone on my regular runs and hikes with music streaming from my phone - something hard to do with vinyl.

Yet, technology has created new challenges and paradigms for musicians' rights. These rights are largely protected by copyright, a type of intellectual property (IP) that is often invisible to listeners. It is the critical legal backbone that secures creators' rights, sustains their livelihoods and fosters innovation.

In a world where songs are streamed with a swipe and sampled at will, copyright is the secret sauce for protecting musicians and a flourishing music industry.

We just need to look at recent history to see how copyright is important.

THE ED SHEERAN CASE: MUSICAL INSPIRATION OR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT?

The copyright dispute between Ed Sheeran and the estate of Ed Townsend, co-writer of Marvin Gaye's 1973 classic Let's Get It On, centred on Sheeran's 2014 hit, Thinking Out Loud.

Townsend's heirs alleged that Sheeran copied key elements of Let's Get It On, specifically its chord progression, harmonic rhythm and certain melodic components. The lawsuit, filed in 2016, went to trial in 2023 in a US federal court.