Music rights and publishing course
Music Business, Copyright & Publishing
Own what you make: rights, splits, registration, royalties and the paperwork that pays
Six weeks on the part of music nobody teaches in the studio: what a copyright actually is, why every song is two of them, how splits are agreed before anyone is famous enough to argue, which organisations pay which money, and what a licence really permits. You will finish with a registered, documented, correctly split catalogue of your own work.
Alander Pulliam · 4 modules · 150 minutes · Songwriters, artists, producers, beatmakers, managers and anyone taking a split without reading one.
- Explain the two copyrights in every recording and who owns each
- Run a split conversation before the session ends
- Register works correctly and know which organisation pays what
- Read the four common licence types and say what each permits
- Assemble a rights file for your own catalogue
Education, not legal advice. Rules differ by country and change over time. Verify anything consequential with a qualified professional before you sign.
Week 1
2 assigned readingsTwo Copyrights, One Song
The single most expensive misunderstanding in music is thinking a song is one thing. It is two, they can be owned by different people, and every deal you ever sign turns on which one is in play.
- Distinguish composition from sound recording
- Identify the likely owner of each in your own work
- Say which copyright a given deal touches
Before the deck
- Your own distributor and PRO account pages · Your accounts
Read what you actually filed. It is rarely what you remember filing.
- Your national copyright office's guidance on music · Government copyright office
Primary source beats forum advice every time.
Foundation
Song vs. record
- The composition is the song: melody and lyrics.
- The sound recording is one specific performance of it, captured.
- A cover version creates a new recording of the same composition.