So glad you clarified #1 because I had that thought just a week or two ago. “Should I have the engineer put all of the recordings, wav files, track outs and all on my hard drive, so I’m the only one in possession of my work/masters?” Guess I was on the right train of thought. Much appreciated!
You just earned yourself a follower a man . Speaking so many facts. I record in my home and I mix my own music. These engineers will try to trick you by telling you they’ll email you the copy and never do that’s why you keep your hard drive with you and leave with those master .. from the dry/ files wet files MP3 and external data for the song. Never sign , it’s better to partner
You’re putting out a lot of great info. Basically in order to protect your masters you would have to make work for hire agreements with the engineers and who ever owns the studio. That way they can’t claim your masters because they got paid for their services.
Yes, you need work for hire agreements. Here is the tricky part, copyright law especially when it comes to music, does not give you "legal" protection when it comes to work for hire. Therefore, you need an experienced lawyer who fully understands copyright law, copyright case law and how recording/ publishing works. This very likely will be a lawyer who was a musician or worked in the music industry. The language they will use in the contract needs to be broad and very likely, they will have a clause in the contract, that gives the client copyright transfer ownership incase the work for hire clause is not sufficient enough to hold in court. If you are an indie musician and cannot afford an experienced lawyer to draft your contracts, then you have zero business being in the music industry. The industry is about contracts---then hard work and finally talent.This is not legal advice.
You said that the engineer could own the master. But if you payed them. For their service? Does a weitten agreement still need to be present? And if. You takethe "session" on your hard drive do they still own/have it?
Thanks for the insight. Your videos are the go to for knowledge about the music buisness. I am using all this knowledge in my rise as a solo rap artist.
The B-side (or "flip-side") is a secondary recording that typically receives less attention, although some B-sides have been as successful as, or more so than, their A-sides. Why does b sides like example cockroach is a b side and it didn’t make it to the album sequencing but it is a b side so in your own words what is a b side and why does it have less attention but also have more successful than a side?
Let’s say I’m an artist and I create a work for hire agreement for my producer stating that he will get paid his fee off the top from streaming revenue would I still own my masters?
so as a new artist and you walk into a studio and do one song. as long as you pay the studio and leave with a master copy and some type of written receipt for the services your covered?
@ F M, that is not sufficient! What you need is a contract, a legal binding document stating that you OWN that piece of intellectual property! When you go into the studio and work with producers and engineers from a legal perspective, the are the “ creators” of that work! You might also be a creator but now you find yourself in a conundrum; there are three or more creators- you, producer, live musicians and engineer! Guess what, doesn’t matter even if you have a receipt showing you paid for all these services! How to you avoid this? By having a work for hire contract with every person who will touch your project in that studio- everyone! This is not legal advice
very insightfull my brother. I just had a question about the subject. I had a recording session for over 20 songs. and I asked the ingenier to not just give me the finished songs, but I also asked him to give me the unmixed version of my vocals. so I have the mixed versions and the unmixed versions of my vocals on top of the finished song. however, I didn t ask for the session. I might not have the full session in my possession but I have something that is very close to it and I was wandering if the files I have could count as having my masters in my possession. thank you so much
Well, let me start by saying this, what is most important right now, is not wether you will get the raw files. Of course that is important, but from a legal and business perspective, having a solid contract in place, specifying that you OWN all the masters and intellectual property and not the engineer is most important! If you have such a contract in place and also specifying that you hired the engineer to do a job, then if he does not give your the raw files then he is in breach of contract and you can involve the courts. Yes, you need work for hire agreements. Here is the tricky part, copyright law especially when it comes to music, does not give you "legal" protection when it comes to work for hire. Therefore, you need an experienced lawyer who fully understands copyright law, copyright case law and how recording/ publishing works. This very likely will be a lawyer who was a musician or worked in the music industry. The language they will use in the contract needs to be broad and very likely, they will have a clause in the contract, that gives the client copyright transfer ownership incase the work for hire clause is not sufficient enough to hold in court. If you are an indie musician and cannot afford an experienced lawyer to draft your contracts, then you have zero business being in the music industry. The industry is about contracts---then hard work and finally talent.This is not legal advice.
*I really don't see no pros in signing with a record label I want to keep all my masters publishing ect, you telling me Michael Jackson had a 360 deal*
Mackeyjay Lozada No offense taking, check out Wendy Day's channel, she talks all about that stuff. but I was speaking from a independent standpoint, you just have to market and promote yourself to create a buzz the same way a record label works but you can use social media to your advantage.
Thank you for this video ! But I have a technical question, if someone is hiring me to create a master as a work for hire (so I get paid and have no royalties on that), but nothing in the contract is specified something about the ownership of the stems, do I still own my stems ? Because the person who hired me, request now few years later my stems to create a new master of the master i created and sent him, is it legal ?
Nice idea! You can do everything yourself, but still your are "legally" exposed. And this is where greedy and unethical music executives and people in the industry take advantage of young indie musicians. Most indie musicians or those starting out, do not fully understand copyright law and how to protect your intellectual property. I was the same way to until I learnt the hard way! So here is what you might consider doing; 1) Setup and LLC that owns all your intellectual property (both Masters and Publising)Make sure you are the only owner in this LLC and never bring in investors or other partners. You can form a 2nd LLC and have the first one license the material to the 2nd LLC and then you can use the 2nd LLC to bring in investors and partners. **This is how you get to OWN the whole pie** 2) Have a contract between you and your company specifying that the company owns all these intellectual property and you are a work for hire ( this legal shields your assets if you go to court, hence no one can come after your bank and saving account etc) 3) Have a experienced lawyer who works in the music industry to draft work for hire contracts that you can use with other engineers and musicians, distributors etc. The work for hire will specify that those people are dealing with your company and not you as an individual. This should not bee taken as legal advice.
@@KAIZENURAMESHI Here is the issue. Contracts and agreements are legal documents that hold up in court as well as they are a paper trail. So if anything happened and people are disputing if you are the copyright holder it becomes messy because it’s your word against thier word in a muddy situation where there are no contracts! So you will be forced to bring in a forensic expert to create a trail to show who owns what... and at that stage you are so deep in legal fees etc.
Great response. @Awaken Zen There are various techniques to protecting yourself and this is one. However anything set up can be dismantled without leverage and discipline. The detail in this thread is useful when you get ready to sign to someone, bring in partners, or make big investments. If not, remember this: 1)work with an attorney before you sign anything 2)do your due diligence with copyrights, splits, PRO's, and basic agreements with other creatives 3)Back up your sessions to an account that you alone access 4) Always get your files when you pay for a session. 5)Stay positive and manage your relationships well. 6)AGAIN DON"T SIGN ANYTHING WITHOUT SOMEONE YOU HIRED REVIEWING IT. 7) Learn some basic legal jargon to help you read contracts well enough to spot BS.
So glad you clarified #1 because I had that thought just a week or two ago. “Should I have the engineer put all of the recordings, wav files, track outs and all on my hard drive, so I’m the only one in possession of my work/masters?” Guess I was on the right train of thought. Much appreciated!
This guy man, giving all the knowledge for free. What a time to be alive
You just earned yourself a follower a man . Speaking so many facts. I record in my home and I mix my own music. These engineers will try to trick you by telling you they’ll email you the copy and never do that’s why you keep your hard drive with you and leave with those master .. from the dry/ files wet files MP3 and external data for the song. Never sign , it’s better to partner
Owning my publishing. Is a big deal to me along with owning my masters
You are here as well haha!
You’re putting out a lot of great info. Basically in order to protect your masters you would have to make work for hire agreements with the engineers and who ever owns the studio. That way they can’t claim your masters because they got paid for their services.
Yes, you need work for hire agreements. Here is the tricky part, copyright law especially when it comes to music, does not give you "legal" protection when it comes to work for hire. Therefore, you need an experienced lawyer who fully understands copyright law, copyright case law and how recording/ publishing works. This very likely will be a lawyer who was a musician or worked in the music industry. The language they will use in the contract needs to be broad and very likely, they will have a clause in the contract, that gives the client copyright transfer ownership incase the work for hire clause is not sufficient enough to hold in court. If you are an indie musician and cannot afford an experienced lawyer to draft your contracts, then you have zero business being in the music industry. The industry is about contracts---then hard work and finally talent.This is not legal advice.
hell yeah! love the topic being discussed!
You said that the engineer could own the master. But if you payed them. For their service? Does a weitten agreement still need to be present? And if. You takethe "session" on your hard drive do they still own/have it?
Thanks for the insight.
Your videos are the go to for knowledge about the music buisness.
I am using all this knowledge in my rise as a solo rap artist.
This was really good!
The B-side (or "flip-side") is a secondary recording that typically receives less attention, although some B-sides have been as successful as, or more so than, their A-sides. Why does b sides like example cockroach is a b side and it didn’t make it to the album sequencing but it is a b side so in your own words what is a b side and why does it have less attention but also have more successful than a side?
Let’s say I’m an artist and I create a work for hire agreement for my producer stating that he will get paid his fee off the top from streaming revenue would I still own my masters?
thanks fam the game needs u don't stop
We back at it bro
What about artists performing out there. When an artist does a show then does the company take a cut of that?
so as a new artist and you walk into a studio and do one song. as long as you pay the studio and leave with a master copy and some type of written receipt for the services your covered?
@ F M, that is not sufficient! What you need is a contract, a legal binding document stating that you OWN that piece of intellectual property! When you go into the studio and work with producers and engineers from a legal perspective, the are the “ creators” of that work! You might also be a creator but now you find yourself in a conundrum; there are three or more creators- you, producer, live musicians and engineer! Guess what, doesn’t matter even if you have a receipt showing you paid for all these services! How to you avoid this? By having a work for hire contract with every person who will touch your project in that studio- everyone! This is not legal advice
very insightfull my brother. I just had a question about the subject. I had a recording session for over 20 songs. and I asked the ingenier to not just give me the finished songs, but I also asked him to give me the unmixed version of my vocals. so I have the mixed versions and the unmixed versions of my vocals on top of the finished song. however, I didn t ask for the session. I might not have the full session in my possession but I have something that is very close to it and I was wandering if the files I have could count as having my masters in my possession. thank you so much
Well, let me start by saying this, what is most important right now, is not wether you will get the raw files. Of course that is important, but from a legal and business perspective, having a solid contract in place, specifying that you OWN all the masters and intellectual property and not the engineer is most important! If you have such a contract in place and also specifying that you hired the engineer to do a job, then if he does not give your the raw files then he is in breach of contract and you can involve the courts. Yes, you need work for hire agreements. Here is the tricky part, copyright law especially when it comes to music, does not give you "legal" protection when it comes to work for hire. Therefore, you need an experienced lawyer who fully understands copyright law, copyright case law and how recording/ publishing works. This very likely will be a lawyer who was a musician or worked in the music industry. The language they will use in the contract needs to be broad and very likely, they will have a clause in the contract, that gives the client copyright transfer ownership incase the work for hire clause is not sufficient enough to hold in court. If you are an indie musician and cannot afford an experienced lawyer to draft your contracts, then you have zero business being in the music industry. The industry is about contracts---then hard work and finally talent.This is not legal advice.
Lots of great info! New subscriber here sho fo bruh!
Thanks for the sub!
*I really don't see no pros in signing with a record label I want to keep all my masters publishing ect, you telling me Michael Jackson had a 360 deal*
David Brown but how are you going to get buzz because idk who tf you are no offense just saying and asking??
Mackeyjay Lozada No offense taking, check out Wendy Day's channel, she talks all about that stuff. but I was speaking from a independent standpoint, you just have to market and promote yourself to create a buzz the same way a record label works but you can use social media to your advantage.
Nawl Michael didn't have a 360
Hurts Publishing Most likely a distribution deal, I know that now and thanks
Most likely cause my owned his own label mijac music which was distributed by sony
Thank you for this video ! But I have a technical question, if someone is hiring me to create a master as a work for hire (so I get paid and have no royalties on that), but nothing in the contract is specified something about the ownership of the stems, do I still own my stems ? Because the person who hired me, request now few years later my stems to create a new master of the master i created and sent him, is it legal ?
Thank you for all that you do! Is it best practice to do both the PA & SR copyrights or will just the SR do?
The SR will cover both. And thank you for supporting and watching
Thanks for the insight brother
Good job
I wonder how Bishop Lamont walked away from aftermath with all his masters 700 songs
So what if I do this all myself like recording and mixing etc?
Nice idea! You can do everything yourself, but still your are "legally" exposed. And this is where greedy and unethical music executives and people in the industry take advantage of young indie musicians. Most indie musicians or those starting out, do not fully understand copyright law and how to protect your intellectual property. I was the same way to until I learnt the hard way! So here is what you might consider doing;
1) Setup and LLC that owns all your intellectual property (both Masters and Publising)Make sure you are the only owner in this LLC and never bring in investors or other partners. You can form a 2nd LLC and have the first one license the material to the 2nd LLC and then you can use the 2nd LLC to bring in investors and partners. **This is how you get to OWN the whole pie**
2) Have a contract between you and your company specifying that the company owns all these intellectual property and you are a work for hire ( this legal shields your assets if you go to court, hence no one can come after your bank and saving account etc) 3) Have a experienced lawyer who works in the music industry to draft work for hire contracts that you can use with other engineers and musicians, distributors etc. The work for hire will specify that those people are dealing with your company and not you as an individual. This should not bee taken as legal advice.
@@KAIZENURAMESHI Here is the issue. Contracts and agreements are legal documents that hold up in court as well as they are a paper trail. So if anything happened and people are disputing if you are the copyright holder it becomes messy because it’s your word against thier word in a muddy situation where there are no contracts! So you will be forced to bring in a forensic expert to create a trail to show who owns what... and at that stage you are so deep in legal fees etc.
@davidbundi can I choose to work like this? With all you said about copyright and owning the own pie
Great response. @Awaken Zen There are various techniques to protecting yourself and this is one. However anything set up can be dismantled without leverage and discipline. The detail in this thread is useful when you get ready to sign to someone, bring in partners, or make big investments. If not, remember this: 1)work with an attorney before you sign anything 2)do your due diligence with copyrights, splits, PRO's, and basic agreements with other creatives 3)Back up your sessions to an account that you alone access 4) Always get your files when you pay for a session. 5)Stay positive and manage your relationships well. 6)AGAIN DON"T SIGN ANYTHING WITHOUT SOMEONE YOU HIRED REVIEWING IT. 7) Learn some basic legal jargon to help you read contracts well enough to spot BS.
@@PhaseVi Very well said!
Such a smart educated black man