What is a rights assignment?
In the music industry, rights assignment is the process of granting a third party the right to manage The ownership of rights in a song under copyright law or in a An original musical composition with or without lyrics., In the context of music, when a musical work is played live or on a sound recording., or Typically, the recorded performance of a musical work protected as a phonogram under copyright law. on behalf of the original A person or company that has Intellectual Property Rights in a musical work, performance or sound recording.
In particular, A person who makes an original contribution to the creation of a musical composition or lyrics., A company that represents songwriters, supporting their career development, monetizing musical works, and protecting copyrights. , In the context of music, a creator playing a musical work live or on a sound recording. and the owners of sound recordings, such as A company that invests in, manufactures, distributes, promotes, and monetizes sound recordings on behalf of the artist., Artists that release their music without the support of a record label., and Not affiliated with any other entity or company. 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., often assign some of their rights to 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..
When assigning your rights, you remain the rights holder, but you no longer manage those rights yourself. The third party to whom you have assigned your rights, typically your CMO, is exclusively entitled to manage and A form of permission given to use copyrighted material, such as a musical work or sound recording, under certain conditions and usually for a fee. those rights on your behalf and will pay you when your musical work, performance, or sound recording is used. But in some cases CMOs will agree that you still manage some of the assigned rights yourself, for example, that you may perform your own musical works without needing a license.
Image credit: Martin Fabricius Rasmussen