The aim of this research is investigating the current state of Korean musical industry concerning issues of the copyrights and deriving the policy implications. Musical is a complex art which embraces literature, art, music, acting, directing, stage-...
The aim of this research is investigating the current state of Korean musical industry concerning issues of the copyrights and deriving the policy implications. Musical is a complex art which embraces literature, art, music, acting, directing, stage-designing, lighting, acoustics, costumes and so forth. Therefore, a musical can encompass all the relevant elements of the performing arts. Thus, by investigating the musical industry, I hope to derive implications extending to all the fields of performing arts.
By intensively discussing the rights and problems related to the use of copyrighted works, especially focusing on the systematic analysis of the copyrights according to the process of producing musicals and on the existing practices, this study attempts to form efficient and rational relationships for the personnel involved in performing arts industry using the copyrighted works.
With this purpose, it looked into the concept of the copyright in performing arts industry by examining the existing documents and also analyzed the characteristics of musicals as copyrighted works. In addition, this research systematized work plans of two production modes of musicals, creative musicals and licensed musicals, and analyzed the pattern of the copyrights according to their component.
This research conducted a survey on the actual state of the copyrights for the producers and authors engaged in musical industry, and on the basis of positive analysis of research results, it drew the points at issue involved in the copyright of musical industry as follows. First, it is feared that there exist an improper use of authority considering that the contract terms or its patterns are decided by the judgment and demand of producers in time of making contracts without any specific institutional standards. Second, there is a lack of understanding on protecting the rights of stage designers and dramatizers whose copyrights are authorized in the Copyright Act. Directors and producers, neighboring right holders, are not institutionally acknowledged to be eligible for copyrights, but it was found that many of them actually exercise their authorities on copyrights as a general practice. Such a result shows a conspicuous disparity between the market and the institution. Third, infringement of copyrights results from users' lack of consciousness on copyrights as well as the efforts of reducing production costs. It seemed that authors and producers were not well aware of the importance of copyrights. Fourth, producers feel the royalties for licensed musicals are relatively high compared to those in Korean musical market. Choosing licensed musicals in expectation of commercial success often leads to deteriorate production quality while intensifying competition among domestic entertainment agencies increases royalties for licensed musicals.
Based on the above results, the research suggested four political implications to improve the environment of the copyrights related to performing arts industry, let alone musical industry. First, it is imperative to establish clear relationship of rights by commonly using a standard contract in order to build the foundation for the approved copyright contract system. Second, there should be an institutional improvement according to the changing production environment by suggesting the requisites for acknowledging the fluctuating nature of copyrights of directors’ works. Third, it is important to protect producers by arranging provisions that can be applied to copyright issues in musical industry. Fourth, it is also necessary to intensify the consciousness of copyright-related matters by providing personnel involved in musical industry with professional training on copyrights.
This research confirmed that it would be urgent to get the hang of the impending issues related to copyrights of musicals and to make the institutional improvement possible not only for the musical industry but also for the whole performing arts field.
Further, it is expected that the research would contribute to the theoretical systematization in this field through academic understanding of the copyrights in performing arts industry.
Key Words: copyright, copyright holder, neighboring right holder, musical industry, standard contract