Are Christmas songs/carols protected by copyright?
Copyright law is a system designed to encourage composers (lyricists, arrangers) to create, and to offer them protection for the work they have created. Copyright protects not only their rights, but also their livelihoods. If you wish to photocopy or reprint the words and/or music of a Christmas song or carol, you’ll need to find out if the work is in copyright. If it is, you will need permission from the copyright owner to reprint it or photocopy it. Each musical work is made up of different copyright elements that are separately protected. These may include copyright in the: • music – protection lasts until seventy years after the year in which the composer died • lyrics – protection lasts until seventy years after the year in which the lyricist died • arrangement – if applicable, protection lasts until seventy years after the year in which the arranger died • published edition – the publishers’ investment in the typesetting of the piece, ie. the graphic layout of the music on the pa
