Know Your Rights... Your Copyrights.

When an artist starts out one of the big questions they ask is, "How can I make money from my music?" There is no simple answer, but we would always advise an unsigned artist to register the copyrights in their songs.

It is therefore important to understand the different copyrights in a piece of music. There is the copyright in the composition of the song, known as the publishing right, and the copyright in the actual recording of a song, sometimes known as the recorded or master right.

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These categories can be broken down further with a performance and mechanical right in a composition, and a neighbouring right alongside the right in the master recording. But what does this mean and how can I make money from these copyrights?

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As a songwriter to make money from your compositions, you would need to register your repertoire with a collection society, such as the PRS and MCPS. These are the UK societies and there are equivalent societies in other countries. PRS collect the performance income for a songwriter when music is streamed, played on TV, radio, in bars and clubs or live. MCPS collect the mechanical copyright of the composition when a recording is reproduced for use of physical products, online for TV or audiovisual use.

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Of course, as a songwriter to collect these Royalties you need a recorded version of your song, whether you have recorded that yourself or whether you have written that song for another band or artist to record. The recorded or master right of that song then sits with the artist or band who recorded that song. As an unsigned, you can self-release a recording through one of the DIY platforms such as TuneCore, Distrokid or Ditto, and you will receive a recorded royalty for the use of that song.

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The neighbouring rights in a song is the public performance of that song, in bars, clubs, restaurants, and cafes, but instead of a Royalty being paid to the songwriter, it is paid to the performers of the actual recording. The main collection society in the UK that collects neighbouring rights income is PPL, but there are other private organisations, which also offer a similar service.

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There is a small fee to register with each of the societies, but in the long run, that fee should be well recouped. You should be safe in the knowledge that your copyrights are safely registered with these societies.

At YMU Business Management our Royalties team can assist artists with their registrations, whether registering new tracks or reviewing existing registrations, alongside a raft of royalty services.

?? Andy Elms , YMU Business Management Associate Director and Head of Royalties

?? John Hult, Unsplash