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This page is about the legal status of sound recordings. For the technical aspects of creating and uploading audio files, see Commons:Audio.

Sound recordings, also known as phonograms, are treated differently from other kinds of works under international law and the copyright laws of many countries.

In most countries, a sound recording has a separate legal status from the underlying musical, literary, or dramatic work embodied in the recording. United States copyright law treats sound recordings as creative works like any other: the authors of a sound recording are the performers, producers, or both, who contribute original authorship to the recording.^[1] Outside the United States, sound recordings are instead subject to related rights, also known as neighboring rights, which are held by the performers and phonogram producers.

As a result, even if an underlying musical or other composition is in the public domain, a sound recording based on it may still be subject to copyright or related rights. Conversely, the term of protection for the sound recording may expire before the copyright term for the underlying work. When uploading an audio file to Wikimedia Commons, it is recommended that you use copyright tags indicating the copyright status of both the sound recording and the underlying work.

See also

• Sound recording copyright on Wikipedia
• Related rights on Wikipedia
• Commons:Audio
• Commons:Free media resources/Sound

References