Is choreography on TikTok protected by copyright?

Tiktok is known for its dance videos. Its popularity began to rise at the beginning of the pandemic where people were looking for ways to still have fun without having to leave the house. From the Dalgona coffee trend to the famous “Woah” movement,, TikTok has been popular not only among teenagers, but also adults.

Various choreos appeared: Like That-Doja Cat, Surfaces-Sunday Best, Super Lonely-Benee, etc. Now TikTok is used as a medium to promote songs; both newly released and old songs, such as One Direction's “Walking in the Wind” which regained its popularity. These songs are packaged in the form of a video that tells a certain experience or dance choreography.

One video uploaded on TikTok can have different copyright protections and copyright owners. There can be two copyright holders in one video. For example, the copyright owner for the video itself may be different from the copyright owner for the song. This applies to dance choreography on TikTok.

In general, protection for choreography is regulated in Law Number 28 of 2014 concerning Copyright. Article 40 of the law states that choreography is one of the objects protected by copyright. It doesn't matter if the choreography is performed live or via video uploads like on TikTok, as long as it meets the requirements to be protected.

The basic principle in copyright protection is that a new work can be protected if it has been realised (fixation) and not in the form of an idea. In this discussion, the choreography must be performed in any way. However, there is no fixation standard for choreography that is uploaded to social media. Tulus Hasudungan in his thesis "Choreographic Copyright Protection Through Fixation and Doctrine of Originality" explains that basically, fixation in Indonesia is shown through audio-visual recordings and photos accompanied by explanations (manual books).

Besides having to be realised in the real world, a choreography must also meet the elements of originality. Pututo in “Academic Misconduct” defines originality as something that is personal and shows creativity in the creation. Creativity is actually not easy to do, especially in terms of choreography, but it is worth trying. Leon Yankwich in his journal “Legal Protection of Ideas: A Judge Approach” argues that creativity can use things that are common but combined into something new so that it can be copyrighted.

So, one step that can be taken to obtain copyright protection for choreographic works is to upload the dance video along with the tutorial, as the girl group BLACKPINK did--consistently uploading their dance practice videos to YouTube. This will strengthen the proof of ownership and originality of your choreography.

Keara Wilson, the creator who choreographed 2020's wildly popular #SavageChallenge of Megan Thee Stallion's “Savage”, is in the process of registering copyright for her choreography with the US Copyright Office. Because millions of people, including prominent artists, such as Jennifer Lopez and even the owner of the song, Megan, took part in the dance challenge. Keara should be able to get economic rights and moral rights for the choreography. This prompted Keara and several other creators to start the process of registering their choreography.

In addition to choreography, videos uploaded to TikTok also have their own copyright under cinematographic works as one of the objects that is protected in Article 40 paragraph (1) of the Copyright Law. As long as the video is a moving image arranged with a certain scenario and can be uploaded to social media, it can be protected. Of course the video must be an original work.