by Jnmarseille13 (February 13th, 2023)
by Jnmarseille13 (February 13th, 2023)
Many of us started music because we simply enjoyed it. The process of building your melodies, writing melodies, creating drum lines and bass lines, arranging, singing or having people sing… such a pleasure! However, when it comes to doing all the paperwork related to the music you’re releasing, it might not be so fun anymore.
Many artists nowadays can self-produce their own music from scratch and come up with amazing results. The evolution of the internet and online music streaming services has made it easier for artist to release their music on their own in a matter of just a few clicks (more than just a few clicks, but you get my point). This gives them the possibility of getting paid off their streams, and the more streams they get, the more money they will earn!
However, in a lot of cases, they forget or don’t know about some other aspects of their music. In reality, the profit they make off those streams is just a "small" portion of what their music might really generate. Let’s dig deeper into this.
In order for everyone to understand this concept, let’s take an example. Jacob is a composer (he knows music theory and can write sheet music, but cannot play many instruments other than piano); his friend Alyssa is a lyricist (she is very good at poetry, she’s not a great singer but can definitely write beautiful lyrics). Jacob and Alyssa choose to team up together to create a song named "Flowers": they end up with everything written and ready to be performed and recorded by a singer and studio musicians. So, Jacob and Alyssa decide to officially register their composition and they now are the original authors. Then they call their longtime friend Alex. Alex is a music publisher; his mission is to promote “Flower” as much as he can, and find famous artists to perform that song and make it popular. In return for his services, Jacob and Alyssa will register Alex’s name on the song, as the official publisher of “Flower”. So now, Jacob, Alyssa, and Alex own and share the author’s rights of the song "Flower".
During his intense work, Alex contacted George, and presented the song "Flower". George is a music executive producer, meaning he is a guy who invests his money into artists he believes in. One of his artists is Diana. George pays Diana along with a group of studio musicians (a drummer, a bassist, a keyboard player and a guitarist) to perform and record the song flower in the studio, and he finances the recording sessions as well. They now have a finished product: a single, with a picture of Diana, her name and the name of the song "Flower", and they’re going to make many copies of the CD and sell them. So, George is the producer of "Flower", Diana and the studio musicians are the performers, and they own and share the related rights (or neighboring rights) of their recorded performance of the song "Flower".
During his intense work, Alex contacted George, and presented the song "Flower". George is a music executive producer, meaning he is a guy who invests his money into artists he believes in. One of his artists is Diana. George pays Diana along with a group of studio musicians (a drummer, a bassist, a keyboard player and a guitarist) to perform and record the song flower in the studio, and he finances the recording sessions as well. They now have a finished product: a single, with a picture of Diana, her name and the name of the song "Flower", and they’re going to make many copies of the CD and sell them. So, George is the producer of "Flower", Diana and the studio musicians are the performers, and they own and share the related rights (or neighboring rights) of their recorded performance of the song "Flower".
In the example above, Jacob and Alyssa are the creators of the song "Flower", while Diana and the studio musicians are the first artists who performed the song. But now that Diana’s interpretation of "Flowers" is getting popular, many other artists want to record their interpretations of "Flowers" as well. These artists and their producers will sell their recordings and share earnings from the related rights from their interpretation of flowers, just like Diana and George.
So, to make it simple… Authors rights are linked to songwriting, while related rights to the recording. Authors (composers and lyricists) and publishers will earn money on every single interpretation of their song. Performers (artists) and publishers will earn money from the sales they make with their recorded version of the song.
In many countries, creators (composers and lyricists) own full copyrights to their work as soon as they finish creating it. Once they have a song ready, they will try to promote it as much as they can. One way to do that is to include a publisher who will be given a part of the authors rights by the author, in exchange for promoting the song. Then the authors would have to make sure that they get paid every time their song is played or performed (in a bar, a store, a night club, TV, video games, movies….) by contacting each party individually, including those who are outside their city, or even in another country!
You probably see where I’m going… No human can handle all these tasks alone. Even if you had 5 people working for you, I doubt that they would call every single store in the country to ask them if they have ever played your music, then getting them to pay you the required fee. So how can an author get paid for this?
The answer is: with a PRO’s help. PRO stands for Performance Rights Organization. This type of organization works on a national or international scale. You register your song and a receive a unique ISWC (International Standard Musical Work Code) for your work . Then they are able to get every public place that plays your song and any other song registered to them to pay a fee. All the money collected will then be distributed to every registered author according to how many times their songs have been played. So, the more you get your song played, the more you’ll earn.
Here are a few PROs you might want to know about:
Some of these PROs might cover more than just their home countries. All of them have their own characteristics, so it’s best to compare them before entering one.
Related rights, or neighboring rights are linked to the recorded performance of a song. In the previous example, we talked about the different parties involved: the producer, the artist and the studio musicians (if there any). The artist and the studio musicians are the performers of a song.
The executive producer’s role is to lead the whole project so that it can lead to a final recorded performance of the song. So that person will finance the whole process (studio time, mixing/mastering engineer, lunch breaks etc.) and pay the artists and musicians for the work they provide. Then when there is have a final recorded song, the producer, who know owns the original recordings (also known as "masters" will get a unique ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) for the track and distribute it to the market (CD copies, online music streaming services….), which will then generate money through streams and sales. So, the producer makes money on the music and gets to keep it all for himself?
Absolutely not. Although many shady situations like this have happened in the history of music, in many (if not most) countries, the law forces the producer to give a percentage of the sales to the artist and musicians!
So, do we just forget about the authors? If it wasn’t for them, there would have never been a song in the first place! So, no we did not forget about them! The producer cannot just sit and hope the single will be sold and streamed massively. He will have to invest money into promotion and placements (radio, TV, movies etc.…), which will give the track more exposure and will attract listeners and new fans. And every single time the track will be played or placed, both the authors and performers (and executive producer) will get their cuts!
So, now you have a complete overview of what music copyright law is like in most countries. Every country has their own characteristics, but the root is the same for everyone, because copyrights operate on a global and international scale, and not just in one country (you don’t just listen to local artists, do you?).
A few other things I wanted to add…. An executive producer can be an independent record label (look again, what the producer’s role is). Studio musicians might not be on the front row, but benefit from very similar rights as main artists. Last but not least… a music publisher’s role can be very large (promoting a song, inspecting how and where it’s played, getting it performed in another language, teaming up with other publishers, helping you understand legal aspects of music etc.)
Another important thing to remember is that many of you reading this might wear different hats at the same time: you create your own music (you own the authors rights), you perform and record it at home (you’re both a producer and an artist). In this case, thanks to a good publisher (in the authors rights) and a good promotion strategy, you would be able to make a nice income on your music.
That’s it for today! I hope it was helpful! 😊
Many of us started music because we simply enjoyed it. The process of building your melodies, writing melodies, creating drum lines and bass lines, arranging, singing or having people sing… such a pleasure! However, when it comes to doing all the paperwork related to the music you’re releasing, it might not be so fun anymore.
Many artists nowadays can self-produce their own music from scratch and come up with amazing results. The evolution of the internet and online music streaming services has made it easier for artist to release their music on their own in a matter of just a few clicks (more than just a few clicks, but you get my point). This gives them the possibility of getting paid off their streams, and the more streams they get, the more money they will earn!
However, in a lot of cases, they forget or don’t know about some other aspects of their music. In reality, the profit they make off those streams is just a "small" portion of what their music might really generate. Let’s dig deeper into this.
In order for everyone to understand this concept, let’s take an example. Jacob is a composer (he knows music theory and can write sheet music, but cannot play many instruments other than piano); his friend Alyssa is a lyricist (she is very good at poetry, she’s not a great singer but can definitely write beautiful lyrics). Jacob and Alyssa choose to team up together to create a song named "Flowers": they end up with everything written and ready to be performed and recorded by a singer and studio musicians. So, Jacob and Alyssa decide to officially register their composition and they now are the original authors. Then they call their longtime friend Alex. Alex is a music publisher; his mission is to promote “Flower” as much as he can, and find famous artists to perform that song and make it popular. In return for his services, Jacob and Alyssa will register Alex’s name on the song, as the official publisher of “Flower”. So now, Jacob, Alyssa, and Alex own and share the author’s rights of the song "Flower".
During his intense work, Alex contacted George, and presented the song "Flower". George is a music executive producer, meaning he is a guy who invests his money into artists he believes in. One of his artists is Diana. George pays Diana along with a group of studio musicians (a drummer, a bassist, a keyboard player and a guitarist) to perform and record the song flower in the studio, and he finances the recording sessions as well. They now have a finished product: a single, with a picture of Diana, her name and the name of the song "Flower", and they’re going to make many copies of the CD and sell them. So, George is the producer of "Flower", Diana and the studio musicians are the performers, and they own and share the related rights (or neighboring rights) of their recorded performance of the song "Flower".
During his intense work, Alex contacted George, and presented the song "Flower". George is a music executive producer, meaning he is a guy who invests his money into artists he believes in. One of his artists is Diana. George pays Diana along with a group of studio musicians (a drummer, a bassist, a keyboard player and a guitarist) to perform and record the song flower in the studio, and he finances the recording sessions as well. They now have a finished product: a single, with a picture of Diana, her name and the name of the song "Flower", and they’re going to make many copies of the CD and sell them. So, George is the producer of "Flower", Diana and the studio musicians are the performers, and they own and share the related rights (or neighboring rights) of their recorded performance of the song "Flower".
In the example above, Jacob and Alyssa are the creators of the song "Flower", while Diana and the studio musicians are the first artists who performed the song. But now that Diana’s interpretation of "Flowers" is getting popular, many other artists want to record their interpretations of "Flowers" as well. These artists and their producers will sell their recordings and share earnings from the related rights from their interpretation of flowers, just like Diana and George.
So, to make it simple… Authors rights are linked to songwriting, while related rights to the recording. Authors (composers and lyricists) and publishers will earn money on every single interpretation of their song. Performers (artists) and publishers will earn money from the sales they make with their recorded version of the song.
In many countries, creators (composers and lyricists) own full copyrights to their work as soon as they finish creating it. Once they have a song ready, they will try to promote it as much as they can. One way to do that is to include a publisher who will be given a part of the authors rights by the author, in exchange for promoting the song. Then the authors would have to make sure that they get paid every time their song is played or performed (in a bar, a store, a night club, TV, video games, movies….) by contacting each party individually, including those who are outside their city, or even in another country!
You probably see where I’m going… No human can handle all these tasks alone. Even if you had 5 people working for you, I doubt that they would call every single store in the country to ask them if they have ever played your music, then getting them to pay you the required fee. So how can an author get paid for this?
The answer is: with a PRO’s help. PRO stands for Performance Rights Organization. This type of organization works on a national or international scale. You register your song and a receive a unique ISWC (International Standard Musical Work Code) for your work . Then they are able to get every public place that plays your song and any other song registered to them to pay a fee. All the money collected will then be distributed to every registered author according to how many times their songs have been played. So, the more you get your song played, the more you’ll earn.
Here are a few PROs you might want to know about:
Some of these PROs might cover more than just their home countries. All of them have their own characteristics, so it’s best to compare them before entering one.
Related rights, or neighboring rights are linked to the recorded performance of a song. In the previous example, we talked about the different parties involved: the producer, the artist and the studio musicians (if there any). The artist and the studio musicians are the performers of a song.
The executive producer’s role is to lead the whole project so that it can lead to a final recorded performance of the song. So that person will finance the whole process (studio time, mixing/mastering engineer, lunch breaks etc.) and pay the artists and musicians for the work they provide. Then when there is have a final recorded song, the producer, who know owns the original recordings (also known as "masters" will get a unique ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) for the track and distribute it to the market (CD copies, online music streaming services….), which will then generate money through streams and sales. So, the producer makes money on the music and gets to keep it all for himself?
Absolutely not. Although many shady situations like this have happened in the history of music, in many (if not most) countries, the law forces the producer to give a percentage of the sales to the artist and musicians!
So, do we just forget about the authors? If it wasn’t for them, there would have never been a song in the first place! So, no we did not forget about them! The producer cannot just sit and hope the single will be sold and streamed massively. He will have to invest money into promotion and placements (radio, TV, movies etc.…), which will give the track more exposure and will attract listeners and new fans. And every single time the track will be played or placed, both the authors and performers (and executive producer) will get their cuts!
So, now you have a complete overview of what music copyright law is like in most countries. Every country has their own characteristics, but the root is the same for everyone, because copyrights operate on a global and international scale, and not just in one country (you don’t just listen to local artists, do you?).
A few other things I wanted to add…. An executive producer can be an independent record label (look again, what the producer’s role is). Studio musicians might not be on the front row, but benefit from very similar rights as main artists. Last but not least… a music publisher’s role can be very large (promoting a song, inspecting how and where it’s played, getting it performed in another language, teaming up with other publishers, helping you understand legal aspects of music etc.)
Another important thing to remember is that many of you reading this might wear different hats at the same time: you create your own music (you own the authors rights), you perform and record it at home (you’re both a producer and an artist). In this case, thanks to a good publisher (in the authors rights) and a good promotion strategy, you would be able to make a nice income on your music.
That’s it for today! I hope it was helpful! 😊