An artist’s guide to record releases, part 1

Releasing your record is one of the most important events for an artist’s career. Having an effective release requires advance planning and getting your ducks in a row. ARI presents the essential guide to planning your release. Austin music attorney Chris Castle discusses the “Record Release Checklist”.

Checklist Topics:

A.  Sound Recordings

 □          Work for hire forms obtained from all side musicians and vocalists
            performing on each sound recording.  If no royalty, obtain a waiver in
            WFH form including SoundExchange featured artist royalties.

□          Producer agreement from each producer INCLUDING BAND MEMBERS.  

□          Work for hire/Producer Declaration forms obtained from each
            producer, mixer and engineer 

□          Guest artist, sideartist agreements, step out agreements, courtesy credits 

□          If group, each recording should be subject to group agreement or side
            letter defining ownership, licensing rights, assignment rights 

□          Register as featured artist and sound recording copyright owner
            with SoundExchange 

□          If recordings are marketed as [FEATURED ARTIST] and the [GROUP],
             determine if group members participate in SoundExchange or
            neighboring rights royalties.  Confirm in writing.

B.  Songs

□          Split agreement for each song 

□          Songwriter agreements defining joint/exclusive administration,
            controlled compositions, who controls licensing, mechanical rates 

□          If artist or co-writers are signed to major publisher, expect trouble and
            difficulty in controlling licensing, free licenses (e.g., lyric reprint, emphasis
            tracks), translations, controlled composition rates, potential deal killing
            behavior on film/TV licensing.  They may insist on control or blocking
            right and then fail to respond, quote deal-killing fees, want MFN terms
            with master, etc., without consent of writers. 

□          Mechanical license or names and addresses of each
            publisher/administrator with song splits, writer and publisher names
            and credits

□          Register with PRO and MLC

□          TIP: If you record a cover song, you may own the sound recording of your performance but your recording does not give you a claim to ownership of the song. For example, if you record a cover of The Beatles’ “Yesterday”, you can claim ownership of the sound recording of your performance. What you cannot do—and we have seen this mistake actually happen however odd it may sound—is claim ownership of “Yesterday,” not even the song split for exploitations of your recording of “Yesterday.” Do not file the song metadata as Lennon/McCartney and Jones. We have seen administrators, especially DIY administrators, actually allow such bogus claims. This is also true of parodies. While you may see parodists like Al Yankovic get writer credit on his parodies, this is not because there’s some kind of law allowing parodists to get a share of the song, it’s because Al Yankovic negotiated a license and likely did so in advance of recording his parody.

C.  Copyright Registration 

WITH SOME EXCEPTIONS, COPYRIGHT REGISTRATIONS MAY BE FILED ELECTRONICALLY AT THE eCO SITE

 □          File copyright registrations for sound recordings and songs.  See
            Copyright Office Circular 56 for registering sound recordings.  See
            Copyright Office Circular 56a for registration of song and sound recording
            on same registration when ownership is exactly the same.  See
            Copyright Office Circular 50 for registration of songs.  See
            Copyright Office Circular 45 for registration of videos (and
            motion pictures).