Free Music Publisher Contracts
Who owns the copyright on a live performance of a composed piece?
I’m working on a website for a composer and question of copyright has come up.
Let’s say I have a recording of the local college’s chamber orchestra performing a piece of my music in a concert. Whose permission (if any) do I need if I want to post a free MP3 of that recording in whole or in part for download on my website?
My inkling is that I’d have to clear it with the organization that put on the concert because they own the ‘mechanical rights’ to the recording, and I may need to get permission from my publisher if I have published my composition, but do I need permission from the musicians themselves or the recordist who made the disc too?
I’m just not sure how the rights work out when you’re talking about re-distributing a recording that wasn’t ever intended for commercial release and is a performance of a piece you created. In most cases there’s no contract in place to answer these questions, particularly with a recording that’s not recent.
As I understand it you wrote the words and music but it was recorded during a live performance by others. First of all no one can release that recording to the public without your permission or since you are under contract with a publisher then a license from your publisher.
Your publisher owns primary rights to the song but the performers and the person who actually recorded it have an interest in the recording. I would say that you need written permission from all parties that might have any legal claim especially if the parties in question were not paid and no one can claim the work was a work for hire. If the musicians were paid then whoever paid them would own the sound recording and you would need that person’s permission. If no one was paid you need the permission of all participants to protect yourself from any claims.
Example: I wrote a song called You Say You Know Me. It was recorded by an artist by the name of Blake Luquette on his first CD. I own the copyright to the words and music but Ralph Records [Blake's record company] owns the copyright to Blake’s recording of the song. If I want to post a copy or even a clip of the song on my website I would need permission from Ralph Records.
How I Signed My First Music Publishing Contract – Episode 2
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