Should I Have Held Your Hand or Can You Hold Your Own?: The Growing Confusion over the Copyright Powers Songwriters Maintain over Their Works

Authors

• Mark Galinovsky, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

Volume

2026

First Page

22

Last Page

57

Publication Date

2026

Document Type

Note

Abstract

As online streaming and digital downloads continue to dominate the music business, songwriters are increasingly left to fight each other for tiny cuts of the profits. Additionally, a lack of consistent judicial rules and standards when adjudicating copyright infringement claims make litigation results uncertain, causing even potentially victorious defendants to agree to expensive settlements and frivolous grants of songwriting credits. This Note argues that in order to protect the future creative output of the music industry, judges and legislators should prioritize the dwindling power songwriters have over control of their original works of authorship.

Recommended Citation

Mark Galinovsky, Should I Have Held Your Hand or Can You Hold Your Own?: The Growing Confusion over the Copyright Powers Songwriters Maintain over Their Works, 2026 Cardozo L. Rev. De-Novo 22 (2026).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/de-novo/118