The information on this website contains generic answers only for general informational purposes. The information does not and is not intended to constitute legal advice, is not represented to be error-free, and is not legally binding. You should refer to the terms and conditions of your licence agreement and/or seek independent legal advice if you have any questions regarding your legal rights and legal obligations.

Please contact us at enquiry@compass.org.sg or +65 6323 6630 if you have any queries.

Copyright is the exclusive right of a given piece of work that the owner has over that piece of work. This entitlement allows writers/composers to prevent other people from using their work without their consent. Once consent is granted, the owner is entitled to a fee for use of the work, or what is commonly known as Royalties.

The exclusive rights of the composers/authors can be categorized into two main categories:

1. Performing Rights

The right to do, or to authorize other persons to do any of the following acts:

(a) To perform the work in public
(b) To communicate the work to the public via:
- Broadcasting
- Inclusion in a cable programme
- Making available of the work in such a way that the work or subject matter may be accessed by any person from a place and at a time chosen by the user

2. Reproduction Rights

Reproduction rights can be further categorized into 3 types of rights. Essentially, it is the right to do, or to authorize other persons to do any of the following acts:

(a) To record the work, in the form of a disc, tape or any other form. This is also known as Mechanical Rights.
(b) To record the work onto the soundtrack of a cinematograph, including films intended for exhibitions in cinemas or for transmission by broadcasting or diffusion services, or of other audio–visual productions. This is known as Synchronization Rights.
(b) To record the work as a commercial jingle or an accompaniment to commercial advertising. This is known as Advertising Rights.

In most cases, the Copyright of a work vests initially in its creator. However, under circumstances where the work was made by someone under the employment of another, the employer may retain the Copyright. If the original creator of the work has died, the Copyright would fall to the estate of the deceased.

You do not have to register Copyright. It automatically subsists as soon as an original work is created, in writing or put into any material form, eg. musical scores, cassette, CD etc.

As no formal registration of Copyright is required, in the event of a dispute over authorship, ownership or originality, there is no standard way of proving that one work was in existence before another.

Registration of works with COMPASS is one of the ways that may help to substantiate existence of work at a given date. Another possible way is to send a recording or copy of the work to yourself by registered post, and leave it unopened. These methods however do not prove that you created the song; rather, it only helps establish the date you claim the song came into existence.

Generally speaking, the Copyright of a musical work does not expire until 70 years after the end of the calendar year in which the writer of the work died. However, if a work is first published after his death, and there are no other public records of the work being offered for sale, the Copyright will last for 70 years from the date of first publication.

As long as you and your collaborators do not work for hire, the 70-year period is measured from the date of the death of the last surviving collaborator.

COMPASS represents our local members as well as members of our affiliated overseas societies under CISAC. A list of our affiliated overseas societies can be found in the link below: