It's important to understand the concepts of ownership before reading more about ownership disputes.
Who owns musical works and sound recordings?
Each Anyone who contributes to creating or performing a musical work, a live performance, or a sound recording. who makes an A creative contribution to a musical work that is sufficiently distinct from any pre-existing musical work contribution to the An original musical composition with or without lyrics. is a A person who makes an original contribution to the creation of a musical composition or lyrics. and under National laws that protect creators' and other rights holders' moral and economic rights in musical works, performances, and sound recordings. they are called an and can own a share of its The controls creators or rights holders have over what they have created or produced and over their identity and image..
The owner of the Typically, the recorded performance of a musical work protected as a phonogram under copyright law. is the person or company that made and usually paid for the recording. This can be companies or individuals responsible for the recording, sometimes called The person or company taking the responsibility for making a sound recording., who can be Artists that release their music without the support of a record label., A company that invests in, manufactures, distributes, promotes, and monetizes sound recordings on behalf of the artist. or independent Sometimes called a studio producer or record producer, a person who typically helps a recording artist record a musical work. They are usually responsible for the entire recording process..
We recommend you read our topics on Songwriting and Recording to learn more about ownership.
What is an ownership dispute and when would it occur?
An ownership dispute is a disagreement about who owns a musical work or sound recording. It can arise in a few different ways, but some common ways a creator might be involved in such a dispute are:
When a songwriter contributes to a musical work and isn't acknowledged as having any ownership of the musical work.
If a band breaks up, bringing into question who owns the musical works and sound recordings they created together.
Some ownership disputes may also raise an The use of a protected musical work, performance, or sound recording without the permission of the rights holders or a license from a CMO in cases where such permission or license is required by copyright law. case. For example, if another creator claims to be the owner of a musical work, which is a copy of your work, and therefore infringes on your rights. We have a separate page on Infringement Disputes with more information on this.
If you weren’t credited and given ownership rights
If you make an A creative contribution to a musical work that is sufficiently distinct from any pre-existing musical work contribution to a musical work but are not To be publicly acknowledged for a contribution to the creation of a musical work, a live performance, or sound recording, for example, listing a songwriter's or performer's name. and given any ownership rights or Also sometimes referred to as shares, the portion of ownership a rights holder has or the portion of income they are entitled to., you can take action against the other A person or company that has Intellectual Property Rights in a musical work, performance or sound recording of the musical work.
How can such disputes be resolved?
To resolve this dispute, you would need to provide evidence of your contribution to the songwriting of the musical work. Evidence could include, for example, The musical notes, scores, bars, text, annotations, and lyrics written or printed documenting a musical work. It may also include instructions about how the musical work should be performed., voice memos, lyrics, videos from songwriting sessions, or demo versions of the sound recording. This evidence can then be presented to the other rights holders or a Collective Management Organization: An organization that acts collectively on behalf of the rights holders it represents and collects and pays remuneration to rights holders. with a request to update the registration with a credit and ownership split of your contribution. When a CMO receives this request, they usually notify the other rights holders, asking them to respond to your A rights holder's request for an entitlement, for example, royalties, redress, or reward.. The CMO may stop paying any income to all the rights holders until the dispute is resolved.
If all parties involved don't accept the request, you may need to consult a The ownership of rights in a song under copyright law lawyer to help with a When the parties involved in a dispute agree on a solution without having to go to court.. If that too is unsuccessful, you can consider A voluntary dispute resolution method that may include all parties involved in a dispute., A form of dispute resolution where parties submit a dispute concerning a particular technical issue to a neutral third party, called an expert, who will make a decision., other Voluntary processes where parties involved in a dispute resolve it without going to court. options, or perhaps as a last resort, court proceedings.
If a band breaks up
If you are in a band and share ownership of the musical works and sound recordings you created as a band, ownership shares or splits agreed amongst you will stay in place even when the band breaks up unless all band members agree otherwise.
But if such shares or splits were not agreed upon and documented before the band broke up, it is likely that you and other former members of the band will disagree on who owns what, which can lead to disputes.
How can such disputes be resolved?
Ideally, all band members would reach a voluntary agreement, perhaps with the help of a copyright lawyer or their CMO. Once an agreement has been reached, it's important you register your splits with your CMO.
If band members can't agree, they can consider alternative dispute resolution or court proceedings.
We have more information on all these resolution types further on in this topic.
Best practice is to always agree on ownership in advance and to document this in writing so that it's clear who owns what. Visit our topics, Songwriting, and Recording, to learn more about splits.
Image credit: Martin Fabricius Rasmussen