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Regulation in the arts has to do with protecting the rights of the creator by copyright and publication via an institue such as the Library of Congress in the USA or SOCAN in Canada. Read more here>>>http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ40.pdf

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Copyright Registration 
for Works of 
the Visual Arts
Copyright is a form of protection provided by U.S. law to authors of “original 
works of authorship,” including “pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works.” The 
owner of copyright in a work has the exclusive right to make copies, prepare derivative works, sell or distribute copies, and display the work publicly. 
Anyone else wishing to use the work in these ways must have the permission of 
the author or someone who has derived rights through the author.
A work is automatically protected by copyright when it is created, that is, 
“fixed” in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. Neither registration in the 
Copyright Office nor publication is required for copyright protection. There 
are, however, certain advantages to registration, including establishment of a 
public record of the copyright claim. See the heading “Effective Date of Registration” below for more details.
Copyright Notice
Before March 1, 1989, the use of a copyright notice was mandatory on all 
published works, and any work first published before that date should have 
carried a notice. For works first published on or after March 1, 1989, use of a 
copyright notice is optional. For more information about copyright notice, 
see Circular 3, Copyright Notice, available on the Copyright Office website at 
https://www.copyright.gov.
Publication
Copyright law defines “publication” as the distribution of copies of a work to 
the public by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease, or lending. 
Offering to distribute copies to a group of people for purposes of further distribution or public display also constitutes publication. A public display does not 
in itself constitute publication.
A work of art that exists in only one copy, such as a painting or a statue, is 
not regarded as published when the single existing copy is sold or offered for 
sale in the traditional way, such as through an art dealer, gallery, or auction 
house. A statue erected in a public place is not necessarily published.
When the work is reproduced in multiple copies, such as in reproductions of 
a painting or castings of a statue, the work is published when the reproductions 
are publicly distributed or offered to a group for further distribution or public 
display