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The Music Biz

The Music Biz

Tuesday, February 18, 2014 • BeatsBySwiss.com

There are two general rights covered in a music copyright: the authorship of a song and the ownership of a song. According to Copyright Law, the writer is the natural owner of every song they write until ownership is assigned to someone else. Every song is made up of two equal parts; not the lyrics and the melody but the writer share and the publisher share.

Copyrights

Often the process of registering a copyright is what comes to mind when people hear the term copyright. However, songs are automatically copyrighted as soon as they are in tangible form, even recorded at home or simply written down. Copyrighted songs have to be original (not copies of another piece) and significant enough to constitute a work. Copyrighting work (getting it in tangible form) not only protects it from being copied or used by unauthorized parties but also is the first step to publishing material and ultimately being paid for it.

Once a work is copyrighted the owner has the exclusive rights to:

1. Reproduce the work
2. Distribute copies of the work
3. Perform the work publicly
4. Make a derivative work.

It also means no one else can do these things without express consent.

It's a fairly common practice among independent artists to mail their work to themselves then keep the unopened letter with its dated postmark as proof of the date the copyright became effective.

Songs registered with the Copyright Office at The Library of Congress will have the maximum protection under copyright law should a dispute arise. Songs should be registered prior to being available to the general public (posting them on Myspace for example) or commercialization of the work.
 
Once an artist is signed by a label the sound recordings are often times copyrighted by the record company and the song copyrights are often held by the music publishers.

Publishing Companies

There are two general rights covered in a music copyright: the authorship of a song and the ownership of a song. According to Copyright Law, the writer is the natural owner of every song they write until ownership is assigned to someone else. Every song is made up of two equal parts; not the lyrics and the melody but the writer share and the publisher share.
 
The writer share is semi-sacred. It represents the authorship of the song. While a copyright can change hands many times; the writer share remains the property of the author.
The other fifty percent, the publisher share, is the equitable share. It is what you can sell or buy. In this context it is known as the "copyright". When a publisher acquires a copyright, it is acquiring the publisher share.

Control

The Publisher controls the writers share. The publisher licenses mechanical , print and synch rights on behalf of itself and the writer. These royalties and fees are collected by the publisher (the owner of the copyright) for both the publisher share and the writer share. It is the publisher's responsibility to pay the writer. Performance royalties are the only royalty type where the writer can collect his writer royalties directly from the performing rights organization. Control means the publisher has the right to negotiate and execute all licenses.

Exploitation

In music publishing, exploitation is a good  term. Writers want their songs exploited. Landing a song in a film or television show is an exploitation; somebody recording your song is an exploitation; releasing a record is an exploitation. When a writer's song becomes part of a greatest hits package down the line - that's an exploitation. An exploited song that is licensed and registered opens revenue streams.
 
Royalties don't just magically show up in your mailbox; It is the result of the publisher executing licenses and filing the proper registrations.

Registration

The writer or their music publisher registers their songs with a performing rights organization (ASCAP, BMI or SESAC) to get the song details in their database so the correct percentages of performance royalties can be attributed and paid to the correct party.
 
The music publisher registers their writer's songs with a "local" publisher in a foreign territory so they can, in turn, register the songs with their local mechanical and performing rights societies (society being a fancy term for foreign mechanical and performing rights organizations) so the correct percentages of foreign mechanical royalties and the publishers side of performance royalties are attributed and paid to the correct party.

Licensing

The music publisher doesn't sell songs to another artist to record or to be used on a TV show or film- they license it. There are four primary licenses: Mechanical Licenses, Public Performance Licenses, Synchronization Licenses, and Print Licenses (Read Previous articles for more info on Licenses).

Functions of a Music Publisher

Administration

Secures copyrights, controls copyrights, executes a variety of licenses, causes songs to be registered with a variety of organizations and societies world-wide, collects royalties, disburses royalties, and more.

Creative Services

The Creative exploitation of copyrights or causing songs to be exploited by pitching songs to other artists and securing placements in Film, TV and commercials; networking and promoting its writers (further explanation invites a whole blog topic in itself)
 
Publishers are often able to provide critical funding in the form of advances against your future royalties and by covering the costs of recording demos of your songs.

Self Publishing

Some songwriters elect to keep their publishing rights and royalties by setting up their own publishing company. It is possible for an artist to keep their publishing rights and simply hire a third party to handle the publishing related administration. If an artist decides to set up their own publishing company they will need to register their affiliation with ASCAP , BMI or SESAC.
 
Swiss Boy

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Sunday, September 18, 2011 • BeatsBySwiss.com

This is really important because a lot of people don't know the difference between Royalties from Sales and Mechanical Royalties so i thought this might help you too.

What up this is Swiss Boy

My last email was about Royalties from Sales. In this one you will learn about Mechanical Royalties and Licenses. This is really important because a lot of people don't know the difference between Royalties from Sales and Mechanical Royalties so I thought this might help you too.

Mechanical licenses are the rights granted by the copyright owner or publisher to reproduce songs for public distribution. Money paid by record companies to manufacture and sell records is called mechanical royalties. Mechanical royalties are paid to the publisher who pays the songwriter accordingly. Mechanical royalties are typically determined by multiplying the mechanical rate by the number of tracks on each record or CD that is sold.

Mechanical royalty payments are typically not reliant on the record label recouping their expenses from recording, producing or marketing the record like royalties from sales.

Compulsory Mechanical Licenses were introduced as part of the Copyright Act of 1909 and allow anyone to reproduce a previously recorded work as long the copyright holder is notified, provided monthly royalty statements and paid the royalty rate set by law, called a statutory rate or stat rate. What this means is that you can record a cover version of a song without explicit permission of the copyright holder as long as the song has already been recorded and distributed, you don't substantially change the song's lyrics or music, and you comply with the licensing and reporting requirements. As of January 1, 2006 the statutory rate is 9.10 cents for a composition five minutes or less in length, or 1.75 cents per minute, rounded up, for songs over 5 minutes, per copy.

Record companies often negotiate down mechanical royalties from the statutory rate, for example, 75% of statutory rate.

A record with 12 tracks on it and a negotiated mechanical rate of 75% of stat ($.0.06825) that sells 50,000 copies would generate $ 40,950 in mechanical royalties (12 tracks X $.06825 X 50,000 sold copies) that the record company would pay to the publisher.

The Harry Fox Agency is the primary mechanical rights administration organization in the United States that issues mechanical licenses, collect royalties, and provide reporting for almost 35,000 music publishers. They are paid a percentage of gross royalties collected for their services.

More information about the music business coming soon!

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Thanks for your support. - Swiss Boy

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