Music Rights and Royalties: Caring & Sharing
You shouldn’t ignore the subject of music rights, otherwise you might miss out on income to which you would be entitled. All your music rights are not automatically exploited, and neither are associated royalties. For this, a corresponding fixation and registration/transfer of the involved rights holders is necessary. You should seek to do this early after the release of a song so that you don’t lose any royalties in the process.
Which rights to your music arise? When, where and how they can be exploited?
It’s a bit complicated. Generally, a distinction is made between two types of music rights: work copyrights and ancillary rights.
- Work copyrights refer to all rights to a so-called “work”: in the case of music rights, this means the musical composition and the lyrics (if there are any). Copyrights also arise for artwork.
- Ancillary rights include, in addition to the rights to the recording, other areas that constitute a performance linked to the work and thus generate rights. The ancillary copyrights are roughly divided into four areas:
- The right of the performing artist – in the case of musical performance
- Right of the producer of the sound recording – music recording
- Right of the event organizer/promoter – in the case of a musical event
- Right of the broadcaster – in the case of music broadcasting
Managing your music rights is not just a chore – good music rights management offers you the opportunity to increase your income and put your career on a broader footing in the long term – whether you are a performer, composer, lyricist or remixer etc.
You can find a detailed article on the topic of music rights and royalties on the MusicHub blog.
MusicHub as an All-in-One Platform for Music Rights, Distribution and More
Everything you need under one roof: with MusicHub, you not only make it easy to register your music rights, but you can also release your music on all leading digital platforms while retaining full control over your rights.
The most important MusicHub services at a glance:
- Release your music through MusicHub’s distribution partners on a wide range of platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Napster, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Tidal, YouTube Music and YouTube Content ID
- Analytics: Track your streams and downloads and analyze your listeners with detailed statistics
- Smart links, including pre-save function for professional promotion of your releases
- Work Declaration and Soundfile Upload to register and monetize your copyrights (GEMA membership required)
- Comprehensive and up-to-date material for your DIY career in the MusicHub Blog and the MusicHub Academy
- The MusicHub Community, where you can network with other musicians and music industry experts
Behind MusicHub is a diverse team of experts who are happy to support you on your DIY career path, regularly exchange ideas with MusicHub users and constantly develop the music platform further.
