The issue of copyright ownership can be overlooked by musicians. Unfortunately, if you do not understand what rights you posses over your work, it could negatively affect what you can and cannot do with your creation in the future. As such, it is very important to understand the significance of copyright ownership in your work.

Below are three reasons ownership is so important:

1. Protection 
Copyright Law protects the interests of musicians. They grant the owner of a work specific and exclusive rights surrounding their creation, so they have control over how their work is used and distributed over a specific period of time.

The rights afforded by copyright law include:

o producing or reproducing the work or any substantial part thereof; 
o permitting the reproduction of the work or any substantial part thereof (this includes the right to translate the work; 
o performing the work or any substantial part thereof; 
o publishing the work or any substantial part thereof;

2. Integrity 
Without the exclusive rights granted through copyright law, anyone could copy and alter another musician's work without asking permission. This could result in artistic integrity of the work being abandoned.

3. Motivation 
Owning copyright and, thus, having the exclusive rights to the work also help motivate musicians to continue in their creative journeys. Having protection of their artistic creations enables them to continually be innovative and strive to create work that is unique. Additionally, the rights to produce and reproduce the work enable musicians to make financial gains off their creations.

To illustrate why copyright ownership matters, let's look at an example. Imagine you heard the song "Yesterday" by the Beatles for the first time. You really like it and decide to create your own version of this song. You take the original song, make some very slight changes if any, and sell it to make millions.

As you can see, the practice of 'copying a work' is not fair to the original creator because they were the ones who put their time and energy into creating the original hit, and you've just copied it (which could lead to a reduction in their profits for the original song).

Thus, the copyright laws are intended to protect the artistic integrity of the original creator of a work as they have the authority to choose how the work will be used.

Disclaimer 
The above information is meant as a general guide to further your copyright knowledge and does not constitute legal advice. For questions about your specific work, you should consult a copyright lawyer in your country.