Master and Publishing Simplified: Music Copyrights Explained
What’s up, music friends! If you're confused by terms like master, publishing, recording, and composition, it’s not your fault. Music copyright terms can be tricky, especially with how often they’re used interchangeably. So, let’s break this down in a way that makes sense.
The Composition Copyright (The Publishing)
When you write a song in your room, it automatically has a copyright attached to it because you created it—whether it’s the lyrics, the melody, or both. This copyright is associated with the songwriting, the composition, and, most importantly, the “publishing” copyright. For simplicity, let’s think of these three terms—composition, songwriting, and publishing—as essentially the same thing. People often say, “We’ll split the publishing,” or “We’ll split the song rights,” or “On behalf of the composition.” These terms can be used interchangeably when talking about the underlying song itself.
The Recording Copyright (The Master)
Now, if you record that song, a second copyright is created specifically for that recording—also called the master. Some people wonder, “Why do we need two copyrights?” but it’s actually helpful! If you write a song and make your own recording of it, you own both the song and the recording. But if someone else creates their own version—a cover of your song—that’s a new recording with its own master copyright, which they would own. However, you would still own the publishing side of things, meaning the underlying songwriting and melody. So, even when others cover your song, you still retain one of the two copyrights, unless you’re in a publishing deal where you've signed away some or all of those rights to someone else.
Master x Publishing
If someone wants to use your song in a movie, for example, they need approval from all copyright holders—both the master and publishing owners. If you wrote and recorded your song and haven’t signed it to anyone else, that’s all you. However, record deals exist, where artists negotiate the rights to their masters, and publishing deals, where songwriters or artists give up some publishing rights for (hopefully) beneficial reasons. Just watch out and make sure it’s a good deal!
Collaboration
Collaboration is another aspect. When you work on a song with someone, you’ll need to work out splits. For instance, maybe you recorded the song later without contributing to the writing, so you’d only receive a percentage of the master. Meanwhile, those who wrote the song would split the songwriting copyright. When I collaborate with others, we often split everything right down the middle, depending on contributions. But all of this is negotiable.
Conclusion
So, that’s a wrap on this topic—master, publishing, and all those music copyrights!
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