Understanding The Roles Of Copyright Holders: Publishers And Labels
A critical part of understanding the music licensing process is understanding the players that control the rights to the music itself. There are several important entities involved in the creation and ownership of any commercial piece of music.
The Publisher
The owner of most commercial songs—the music and lyrics—is a publisher. The publisher may be controlled by the songwriter, or it could be a third party that purchased the rights to the song from the songwriter. A publisher can be a single individual or it can be a huge conglomerate. A publisher, whether an individual or a large company, performs four basic functions: It controls the copyright, exploits the copyright, protects the copyright, and collects the income generated from the use and exploitation of the copyright.
The song publisher grants synchronization rights. A synchronization right is the authorization to use a composition locked with a moving image or other audio/visual work. Just like in synchronized swimming, where all the swimmers move in unison together, a synchronization right grants permission to use a composition in unison with an image, where the sound and the image are integrated.
The Label
Record labels originated to produce records and own masters of their recordings. They often came from humble beginnings, often as recording studios such as Sun Records (Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins), Motown (Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, the Temptations), Stax (Sam & Dave, Isaac Hayes, Booker T & the MGs), and Atlantic (Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Eric Clapton). These studios captured the many styles of talent that came through their doors, but they not only recorded the music, they pressed it on vinyl and worked to get the songs played on radio as well. Those lovely 7- and 12-inch discs brought the music to the masses.
A master right, sometimes confusingly called a “master synchronization” right, is the right to use a master recording with a locked moving image or other audio/visual work. This right is secured through the master owner, or the entity that originally paid for the recording. Generally speaking, this will be a record label, but it may also be a production company (if you are requesting music written speci?cally for a prior ?lm) or even the artist themselves (most likely if they released the recording on their own).
- By Brooke Wentz