Once you have carefully developed your logo, it's important to understand who owns the copyright to it, because it's that person who is granted exclusive rights to the art. "Exclusive rights" means the owner of the copyright has the sole right to produce and reproduce the art. In other words, if you don't own your logo's art, you cannot take the image to print it on merchandising T-shirts, flyers, your CD cover, or a banner.
When we discuss logos in terms of copyright, it is not the actual name of the band that is being protected, but rather, the artistic element within the logo. In other words, two bands could have the name "Rock Your Soul" but each one would own the copyrights to their individual logo designs. Should another band use your logo design, they would be infringing. A Trademark, on the other hand, could be used to protect the actual name of the band because it is associated with the identity of the band.
As a general rule, the person or people who create the band logo are the owners of the copyright. However, there are a number of exceptions including: a commissioned work, a work made in the context of employment, transfer of copyrights, and licensing of copyrights.
If you commission someone to make your band's logo, then you, as the commissioning party, own the rights to the logo. When you are hiring someone for the purpose of making your logo, it is definitely advisable to have a contract that states you own the copyright. After all, what's the use of having a band logo and not even owning the rights to reproduce it?
Another instance where the logo might not belong to the artist who created it is if the band logo was created during the course of employment. In this case, if it was part of the scope of your job to create the art (i.e. you work at a design firm that creates logos), you do not own the copyrights -- the company who employs you does. To add another layer to this, if the company was commissioned by the band to make the logo, then the band would own the copyright to the logo, as discussed above.
In some cases, the owner of the band logo may actually choose to transfer all or some of the rights afforded by copyright law. This would require a written agreement detailing which copyrights are being transferred.
Lastly, the copyright ownership for the band logo could be licensed out. This means you grant permission to someone else to use your logo for a specified cost. In this case, you would still retain all the copyrights (unlike when you transfer the rights to someone else) and can specify the terms of the license.
As you can see, the circumstances regarding the creation of your band's logo are what dictate who owns the copyright to the image.
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