In December, many businesses put a short greeting on their website: the team in front of the workshop, a look back at the year, a thank-you to customers. Music often runs underneath, frequently a Christmas carol everyone can sing along to. That is exactly where things can go wrong. A song may have been in the public domain for decades while the recording playing in the video is not. A soundtrack carries rights on four layers: in the composition and its lyrics, in an arrangement, in the recording and in the performance of the singers and musicians. Under the German Copyright Act (UrhG), each layer is governed separately, and each one that is still protected, as a rule, needs permission once the video is publicly available on your website. This article sorts the four layers, works through the terms with examples, shows which questions a license text has to answer and describes the route by which a business keeps the rights in its own hands. It does not replace legal advice on an individual case. It does make sure the right questions are asked in November rather than after the video is already online.
One song, four layers of rights
As works, the German Copyright Act protects only the author's own intellectual creations (Section 2(2) UrhG).
In a song, such creations sit in the composition and the lyrics; an arrangement can be another one if it involves creative choices of its own. Alongside these are two related rights that have nothing to do with writing the song. The producer of a sound recording has the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute the phonogram and to make it available to the public (Section 85(1) UrhG). And anyone who sings, plays or otherwise performs a work is a performer with rights of their own in that performance (Section 73 UrhG). With a choir or a band, many people involved quickly add up, and each of them may hold rights in the soundtrack.
For a website, one right matters most. Putting a video online so that members of the public can access it from a place and at a time of their choosing makes it available to the public (Section 19a UrhG). For authors, this right is part of the right of communication to the public (Section 15(2) UrhG); for performers it is set out in Section 78(1) UrhG, and for the producer of the recording in Section 85(1) UrhG. Use already begins in the edit: anyone who copies a song onto the soundtrack of a video reproduces it, because transferring a work from one sound or video carrier to another also counts as reproduction (Section 16(2) UrhG). The table sorts the four layers by rights holder and term.
Scroll table sideways
| Layer | Who holds the right | When protection ends | Basis in the UrhG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Composition and lyrics | Composer and lyricist, after their death their heirs | 70 years after death, counted from the end of the year of death | Sections 64, 65 and 69 |
| Arrangement | Arranger, if the version is a creation of its own | 70 years after the arranger's death; an insubstantial arrangement of public-domain music is not protected | Sections 3 and 64 |
| Recording | Producer of the phonogram; if made within a company, its owner | as a rule 70 years after the phonogram is released | Section 85 |
| Performance | Singers and musicians | as a rule 70 years after the phonogram is released | Section 82 |
When a video is public
The melody is free, the recording usually is not
Under Section 64 UrhG, copyright expires 70 years after the author's death. The count does not start on the day of death: the terms begin at the end of the calendar year in which the relevant event occurred (Section 69 UrhG).
If a composer died in 1956, protection of their works ends on December 31, 2026, and from January 1, 2027 they are in the public domain (Sections 64 and 69 UrhG). Many carols sung in Germany are considerably older. Whether a particular song is free, however, depends not on the impression that it has been sung forever but on the documented year of death of composer and lyricist.
The lyrics deserve a second look. The term of protection of a musical composition with words expires 70 years after the death of the last survivor of lyricist and composer (Section 65(3) UrhG), but only if both contributions were created specifically for that song. If an old melody later received new words or a translation, the terms run separately: the melody may be free while the new verse is still protected. A translation is also an adaptation of the original text and can be protected as a work of its own (Section 3 UrhG). For songs sung in several versions of the text, each version therefore needs to be checked separately.
The recording runs on a clock of its own. The phonogram producer's right expires 70 years after the phonogram is released (Section 85(3) UrhG). The same applies to singers and musicians: their rights in a performance recorded on a phonogram, as a rule, expire 70 years after its release (Section 82 UrhG). These terms also run from the end of the year. A recording of a centuries-old song released in 2015 therefore remains protected until the end of 2085 (Sections 69 and 85 UrhG). A reissue does not start a new term, because the producer's right does not arise from copying a phonogram (Section 85(1) UrhG). Conversely, for older recordings the current term only applies if their protection had not yet expired on November 1, 2013 under the law in force until July 6, 2013 (Section 137m UrhG); very old recordings may therefore have become free earlier. Only rely on that if you can document the release year and the version.
The question that counts
Arrangements: protection of their own only with creative input
A well-known carol is rarely sung in its oldest version. Choral settings, piano accompaniments, new harmonies and interludes often date from later, and the law treats them as a layer of their own.
Translations and other adaptations of a work that are the adapter's own intellectual creations are protected like independent works (Section 3 UrhG). For such a setting, the 70-year term runs from the arranger's death (Section 64 UrhG), however old the melody underneath may be. A recording that plays a public-domain melody in a protected arrangement therefore needs the arranger's permission.
The second sentence of the same provision draws a line: “The insubstantial adaptation of an unprotected musical work is not protected as an independent work.” Anyone who transposes a public-domain melody into another key or adds simple accompanying chords will, as a rule, not acquire a right of their own in it. Exactly where the line between an insubstantial and a creative adaptation runs cannot be said in general terms; in a dispute, a court decides on the actual score. In practice, a rule of thumb is enough: the more original ideas can be heard in a version, the more likely it is to be protected.
Conversely, anyone who reworks a song that is still protected needs permission. Adaptations or other transformations of a work, “including, in particular, of a melody”, may only be published or exploited with the author's consent (Section 23(1) UrhG). Recording your own instrumental of a protected title is therefore no way out: the composition remains protected, with or without words, and a transformed version additionally needs consent to the adaptation. Only if a new piece keeps a sufficient distance from its model is there no adaptation under the same provision, and that distinction is a matter for the individual case, not for the editing suite.
- Who is named above the music? Besides composer and lyricist, sheet music editions often name an arranger or a setting. That person's dates decide the status of this version.
- Which version of the words is sung? If a different name appears under a verse than above the song, that text has its own term.
- Does the edition carry a rights notice? It does not prove protection, but it shows that someone claims rights in the version. Then it is worth asking the publisher.
- How far does the version depart from the original? New harmonies, interludes and transitions point to a protected arrangement; a mere transposition does not.
Does the license cover your own website?
If you do not record the music yourself, you need a license, and its wording decides. A right of use may be granted as a non-exclusive or exclusive right and may be limited in terms of place, time or content (Section 31(1) UrhG).
License texts for music therefore often list individually what they cover. Anything not expressly named is determined by the purpose of the contract: if the types of use are not specifically designated one by one, the purpose of the contract assumed by both parties decides which types of use the right extends to (Section 31(5) UrhG). For a business, that means a license bought for a video on a social network does not automatically cover the same file on its own website.
Take particular care with music from the library of a platform or an editing app. Such tracks are often cleared only for use within that service: the song plays there because the provider has made an agreement for it, not because it is free. If the finished video is downloaded and put on the website as a separate file, the soundtrack may leave the scope it was cleared for. The provider's terms of use decide; whatever they say about use outside the service needs to be read before uploading. Why your own website is the place where a business sets the rules itself is covered in the comparison own website or just a social profile.
- Use in a video: Does the license allow you to combine the music with your own images, as the soundtrack of a film and not only as audio?
- Place of publication: Does it expressly name your own website, or only a particular network, channel or app?
- Commercial use: A greeting from a business serves customer relations. A license for private purposes only does not cover it.
- Term: Does the right apply indefinitely, for one season or only as long as a subscription runs? And what applies to videos that are already online when it ends?
- Shortening and editing: As a general rule, the holder of a right of use may not alter the work without an agreement (Section 39(1) UrhG). Whether the music may be cut to the length of the video or faded out should therefore be stated in the license text.
- Credit: Does the license require a credit for title, author or source, and where exactly does it have to appear?
Subscription ended, video still online
Collecting societies, open licenses, AI music
For many musical works, collecting societies manage the rights.
The law describes them as organizations whose sole or main purpose is to manage copyright or related rights on behalf of more than one rights holder for their collective benefit (Section 2 VGG). A collecting society must grant rights of use to anyone on request on reasonable terms (Section 34 VGG), but only on the basis of the rights it manages itself. Which rights for a video on a company website lie with it and which remain with the publisher, the producer of the recording or the performers is clarified by a request to the relevant society before the video goes online. The answer belongs in the evidence folder in writing.
Music under open licenses is an option, but not one without conditions. Such licenses permit use subject to conditions, such as crediting title and author, a ban on modifications or the exclusion of commercial purposes. A greeting through which a company presents itself to its customers serves its public image; a license that excludes commercial purposes will, as a rule, not fit. The law also provides for credit: the author has the right to be recognized as the author of the work (Section 13 UrhG), and can decide whether the work bears a designation of authorship and which one. If the credit appears both in the video itself and below it on the page, it remains visible even when the file is shared on its own.
The situation is open for music generated by an AI tool. “Only the author's own intellectual creations constitute works within the meaning of this Act,” says Section 2(2) UrhG. Whether and to what extent a machine-generated piece qualifies, and who holds which rights in it, has not been conclusively settled. On top of that come the tool's terms of use, which treat commercial use differently, and the question of whether a result comes too close to a protected title. Anyone using such music records the provider, date, prompt and the terms in force at that time. For a video meant to stay on the website for years, a recording with documented rights is the calmer route.
Your own recording: rights in-house
The shortest route to clear rights is a recording the business makes itself.
If a phonogram was produced within a company, the owner of the company is deemed to be the producer (Section 85(1) UrhG); the rights in the recording therefore stay in-house. Two questions remain: the song itself must be in the public domain or licensed, and everyone taking part must consent. Anyone singing or playing in the video, whether the apprentices with a guitar or the whole team as a choir, is a performer (Section 73 UrhG). Performers have the exclusive right to record their performance on video or sound carriers (Section 77(1) UrhG) and to make it available to the public (Section 78(1) UrhG). A short written consent naming the website, the purpose and the duration settles this; for minors, their parents also have to consent (Section 107 BGB). It should also cover what happens to the video when someone leaves the business. The images of the people involved follow rules of their own, set out in the article on image rights for team photos.
- Choose and document the song: Note the year of death of composer and lyricist from a reliable source and calculate the term under Sections 64 and 69 UrhG.
- Check the version: Look at the sheet music edition for arrangers and text versions. If in doubt, pick a version that is demonstrably free or play a simple accompaniment of your own.
- Obtain consents: Everyone who sings or plays agrees in writing, naming the website, purpose and duration; for minors, their parents also agree (Section 107 BGB).
- Record it yourself: Record music and speech separately so the speech stays intelligible and the music can be turned down later. If a service provider makes the recording, the order states that the rights in the recording lie with the business or are transferred to it; the producer's right is transferable (Section 85(2) UrhG).
- File the evidence: Source of the dates, sheet music edition, consents and recording date go into one folder that belongs to the video.
The radio in the background
On the website: your own video file and records
Technology does not replace clearing the rights, but it decides who has the file in hand. In the XICflow video block, you enter your own video files in the “src” field and they play directly (XICflow documentation).
The media library accepts video as MP4 and WebM, with a limit of 200 MB per file (XICflow documentation), and leaves it unchanged on upload. What is online is exactly the version whose soundtrack you checked, and you swap it yourself at the end of the season. A video on an external platform, by contrast, goes into the “url” field; it only loads after a click on the preview, so no data goes there beforehand (XICflow documentation). That protects your visitors' data; you check the soundtrack independently of it. All settings are listed in the documentation on media and showcase blocks, formats and limits in the media library documentation. Why external embeds without a preview step pass on data as soon as the page loads is explained in the article Maps, Videos and Fonts Without Leaking Visitor Data.
A Christmas greeting is seasonal content. When uploading, note how long the license runs, and take the video off the homepage in January. How short videos with captions are built is described in the article Website Videos: Short, Useful and Accessible. If you close over the holidays, combine the greeting with your opening hours; how a winter closure stays visible on the website is covered in a separate article. If you would rather show how a job runs than send a greeting, you will find ideas under show your work process, and the other tasks before the turn of the year are collected in Year-end business: prepare your website in time. How the XICflow editor, blocks and delivery fit together is shown on the features page. If permission for the music is missing, the rights holder can demand removal and, where there is a risk of repetition, an injunction (Section 97(1) UrhG). The following checklist sums up what should be done before uploading.
- Composition and lyrics: years of death documented, term counted from the end of the year
- Arrangement: arranger of the version known and checked, or a simple accompaniment of your own
- Recording: your own recording or a license from the producer with the release year
- Performers: written consent from everyone who sings or plays, and from the parents of minors
- License: names video, your own website, commercial use, term and shortening
- Evidence: license text, consents and sources sit in one folder with the video