[A little context: As MTP readers will recall, the Copyright Royalty Board is in the middle of two (count ’em, two) simultaneous rate proceedings for the statutory mechanical royalty rates under the reliably absurd Section 115 of the Copyright Act. These two are styled “Phonorecords III” and “Phonorecords IV” respectively. Technically, Phonorecords III was appealed […]
[EDITOR CHARLIE UPDATE: The NMPA and the NSAI are trying to freeze mechanical royalties on physical and downloads for another five years by appearing before the Copyright Royalty Board. You can read some of the comments on MTP–the comment that Chris drafted for Helienne Lindvall, David Lowery and Blake Morgan is here, and you can […]
For those following our substantive music business postings, the answers to the problem on controlled compositions will be in the April 13 edition of the monthly (signup under the Artist Authorized button), and will be posted on MTP at the end of the month. For the last few weeks, we have posted sections from the […]
Record companies must license the right to sell reproductions of songs in records (or what the Copyright Act defines as “phonorecords”). Record companies (and I use the term broadly to include any distributor of phonorecords) typically will negotiate the maximum mechanical royalty rate that they must pay on records they release. These terms apply to […]
“Mechanical royalties” refer to monies paid to songwriters or music publishers for reproductions of songs in sound recordings (either for permanent downloads or streaming mechanicals). Mechanical royalties (or “mechanicals”) are usually paid by record companies (or outside the US, by digital retailers). In the United States these rates are set by statute and have varied […]
There is a bit of strategy involved with affiliating with a performing rights society in the United States. All the societies have a creative staff. The decision to affiliate with a particular society should be made after the artist/writer has taken some meetings with the performing rights society and decided if there’s more love coming […]
Artist Glossary of Industry Terms: “Advance” An “advance” is almost always defined as a pre-payment of royalties, whether the advance is paid by record company to an artist, a publisher to a writer or a merchandiser to an artist. An advance is also sometimes called a “minimum guarantee”. Advances in the music industry do not […]
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