Music royalties, licenses and copyrights work to assure creative profits get distributed to all the right people. These types of rights and royalties vary when it comes to creative licensing. In. this post, we’ll break down everything you need to know about the typical music rights and royalties for creative licensing…
Typical Music Rights And Royalties For Creative Licensing
Here’s what you should know before we dive in…
Generally, copyright royalties for music are generated by the sales, distribution or performance of compositions or collections. The legal enforcement of payment for artists, singers, performers, songwriters and producers varies depending on the type of copyrights or royalties being licensed.
Typically, musical rights and royalties fall into one of the following categories.
1. Mechanical Licensing and Royalties
Money earned through mechanical licensing by record companies and recording artists is a controversial subject. Everyone involved in the process makes money on the recordings, including publishers and writers, but the money is calculated based on the individually negotiated contract.
- Usually, the company has control of the royalty money. // They’re the ones who issue payment to artists based on a 50/50 split. (Half to the songwriter and half to the publisher.)
- Oftentimes, artists are offered advances with no guarantee of future royalties until a certain threshold of albums has sold.
It’s important to keep in mind that there are other methods that keep the artists artistic control in mind. –Independent labels and distributors do just that.
2. Musical Performance Rights and Royalties
Performance rights organizations like ASCAP, SESAC and BMI oversee performance rights and royalties for artists. These organizations keep track of the royalty trail from song registration to usage in the wide world of performance media.
Performance royalties are royalties you earn every time your music is performed or played publicly. If you are registered as both a songwriter and publisher with a performing rights organization (PRO), you are eligible to collect performance royalties.
To help you out with this, Symphonic Publishing Administration was designed for the worldwide collection of all music publishing royalties, specifically tailored for the independent artist.
With it, we can collect your mechanical and performance royalties for you by registering each one of your songs in every individual performance AND mechanical rights organization in over 60 territories. — Learn more about it here…
3. Sync Licensing and Royalties
Any time your song is featured in a TV show, movie, commercial, or any visual media, that’s called a “sync placement”. In addition to performance royalties you earn for airing on TV, sync placements also pay an upfront “licensing fee”. This fee is determined based on the song’s market value as well as the various details of how the music was used in the production.
- Your Master and Sync (Publishing) license will likely come in a one time, upfront payment.
- The PRO’s will collect your performance income as per their pre-negotiated deals with the networks and remit those to you separately.
- Additionally, in Europe and abroad you may be able to collect neighboring rights payments for the performance of your master recording. // This is dependent on distribution and scope of the film or show release and is dependent on airplay.
Music publishers collect royalties and licensing fees, seek out sync deals for TV and film, register copyrights, negotiate licenses, and so much more. Nowadays, many songwriters act as their own publishers. — Check out, “How To Become a Music Publisher” to learn how to do it yourself…
4. Printed Music Copyright Royalties
This category is a consistent source of royalties for songwriters and artists, since the medium has not changed much in the history of musical composition.
Printed sheet music copyrights exist so that all other mediums have an accurate translation of any musical piece and it is reproduced accurately when used by the purchaser. In fact, this category of music royalties is the most strictly enforced as a mainstay of residual income for recording companies, publishing houses and even for independent music composers. Printed sheet music has even advanced into software and downloadable versions for the digital age, cashing in on the modern innovations easily.
5. Home Audio Recording Royalties
In addition to these traditional royalty payouts, recent decades of copyright legislation have broadened royalty definitions. Home recording devices have changed the music industry. Everyone in the general public has the ability to access to high quality sound recording equipment in the comfort of their own home.
Manufacturers of digital audio recording machines, blank recording media and related home recording equipment payout percentages from their yearly sales. This money is paid to the Register of Copyrights to recoup losses to artists, songwriters, record companies and music publishers.
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Learn more…
What You Need To Know About TV & Radio Royalties
Types of Publishing Deals and How They Work
Types of Legal Contracts for Music Producers
How to Optimize your Songwriting for Sync
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6. Internet Distribution Rights and Royalties
Distribution rights and royalties for digital performances, webcasts and online downloading is an evolving landscape. Organizations like SoundExchange exist to collect royalties for online musical performances and distribute these to the appropriate individuals.
Just like traditional mediums, digital broadcasters are obligated to pay royalties based on songwriter copyrights and publishing contracts.
7. Foreign Recording Royalties
All the above mentioned types of licensing have their equivalent in foreign countries. Foreign sub-publishers are held to the same standards for copyrighted materials. They must also pay royalties to songwriters or publishers in the United States or in any other global marketplace. Like most things, these are often determined by the negotiated contract with the individual recording company.
In Conclusion…
As a Symphonic Distribution client, you have the opportunity to apply for representation by our in-house sync licensing division, Bodega Sync. Once accepted, your music is pitched to supervisors and advertising agencies, we negotiate licensing deals, complete all the paperwork, and make sure you get paid properly. — Click here to apply for sync representation with Bodega Sync.
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