Back Side Records

There’s a big difference between the copyright of a song as opposed to the copyright of a sound recording. It is imperative that bands or artists understand this difference as owning these rights can mean a good source of income in the here and now and for the future as well.

If you’re still confused, let’s review this distinction briefly. While the record label owns the version of the song that you have recorded with them, you, as a band, own the complete creative rights to the song that you can perform anywhere else.

So if anyone wishes to ‘publish’ your song, they have to pay royalties but for that to happen, you have to issue them a license. Since there are so many kinds, sometimes a publisher can help you collect these royalties from the people who use your songs in different ways.

For example, if someone wants to perform your song live, they will have to pay you a royalty every time this is done. Secondly, every time someone makes a physical copy of your song/s, you get a royalty for that as well.

Also, when the score of your music is published anywhere (known as a print license), you receive royalties for this as well.

Finally, when your song is used as a movie soundtrack, in a commercial or as background music, you can obtain a license for this as well.

And in knowing this, you should be able to maximize, in terms of money, on your creative talent.