I decided to make this post in honor of Dolly Parton because I always use “I Will Always Love You” as an example when explaining something I probably explain 100 times a week to writers and producers: the two sides of a song and the two separate copyrights. It’s one of the most fundamental concepts in the music business, but also one of the most misunderstood. A song can become one of the biggest records in the world, be recorded again decades later, generate entirely new revenue, and the underlying composition is still its own copyright. That distinction affects ownership, publishing, royalties, licensing, splits and who gets paid when money is generated. You don’t have to know every technicality of the music business. But if you create music, you should understand what you created, what you own and how it makes money.