A license agreement is a legal agreement between two parties, called the licensor and the licensee. In a typical license agreement, Licensor grants Licensee the right to manufacture and sell goods, affix a brand name or trademark, or use Licensor`s patented technology. Franchises are generally best suited for service companies, while licenses for product-based businesses are cheaper. A licensee has more control over how they run their business than a franchisee whose business is dictated by the franchise owner (franchisor). A: U.S. copyright law provides that you can be sued by a music publisher and/or record company for using their property without their consent. Since you`ll be working more and more with publishers and record companies over the course of your career, it`s not a very professional way to start your relationship with them if you don`t clarify the rights in advance. Clarifying the rights and executing the stage agreements will also help you in case a distributor is interested in buying your film. If your rights are not clarified, the distributor will review an unknown edition associated with your film, which may deter a distributor from acquiring an independent film. It should be noted that this business model is changing in the modern music industry. Many artists choose to retain ownership of their masters and choose to partner with an entertainment company “Label Services” that offers the services of a record company (marketing, distribution, public relations, etc.) and allows the artist to retain control of his main copyrights.

However, they enjoy much more freedom than franchisees. A license allows the licensee to use, manufacture and sell an idea, design, name or logo for a fee. They are beneficial for licensors because they allow them to expand the reach of their business without having to invest in new locations and distribution networks. A publisher`s sync license is usually required in conjunction with a primary owner`s primary license to use an existing version of a song with a visual project. If you want to give someone else the right to use a music recording, a master use license agreement is a great way to make sure it`s done right. If the music is used in cinema, television,. Read More It is important to note that the inability to identify the copyright owner does not mean that a license is no longer necessary. There are services that can be rented to search for copyright holders.

Otherwise, the licensee may wish to select another record to use. Again, the inability to find a copyright owner is not a valid defense for infringement. Persons who do not grant an appropriate license for sound recordings can be prosecuted for copyright infringement. Who owns the main rights? The holder of the master`s rights is usually the one who finances the admission. Usually, this is the record company, unless you are dealing with an artist without a contract. In this case, the artist holds the main rights. The simple answer is that there are no fixed costs. In other words, the cost of licensing a famous song can be very different.

If it`s a song by a small independent artist, the cost of a license can range from $50 to $150. Master use licenses are acquired from the owner of the sound recording or a person authorized to grant an intellectual property license on its behalf. This means that the first step in this licensing process is to identify the copyright owner of the sound recording. An effective license agreement is the most effective solution to protect your intellectual property. A license agreement allows intellectual property owners to allow third parties to use, modify or resell the property at a mutually agreed price without transferring ownership to the third party. This master license agreement gives the label a 15% to 25% reduction in license revenue, while allowing the artist to retain a large portion of the revenue in addition to controlling master recordings. Another important note is that ALL owners of a sound recording must accept a primary use license. Master use license agreements typically contain clauses that describe the terms of compensation, credit, representation, and warranty. Primary usage rights are often included in disk contracts. Typically, a recording contract includes a clause requiring the artist to agree to waive their main rights in order to receive an advance from the label to fund their project and release.

In fact, master rights are often abandoned in these situations because record companies need to have them in order to have enough control to do their job for the artist. In some cases, the artist will begin to benefit from the revenue streams of the main licenses after (and if) the advance has been paid in full by refund after receipt of the royalties. Owning the main rights is the ticket to generating revenue, and with the rise of streaming sites and mobile opportunities, there`s even more to be gained. This raises the crucial question of whether you should try to keep your main rights or transfer them to a label to get a deal. However, it does not have to be all or nothing, as there are intermediate options: as with any contractual clause, the recording contract can also be negotiated if an artist wants to try to retain his main rights. In some cases, negotiations result in setting a time limit to limit the time during which the master rights belong to the label. .