This document explains that there are two separate copyrights for a recorded song - one for the musical composition and one for the sound recording. It traces the history of copyright law from the first laws in the 1700s, which did not protect musical works, to the 1900s when sound recordings were given copyright protection. Now each song recording contains distinct copyrights - one for the composition owned by songwriters/publishers, and one for the sound recording owned by the record label. Both receive protection for the author's life plus 70 years.