Labels & Publishers
Publishers, Labels and Song Ownership
When an original musical composition is created and recorded, there are two sets of copyrights that immerge : (1) the copyright attached to the musical composition itself-the words and music of the song and (2) the copyright attached to the particular recorded rendition of the musical composition, called the master. It is important to recognize this distinction because the owner of the master recording will often be different from the owner of the composition itself. A music publisher administers , and will often own part of , the copyright attached to the musical composition, while a record label will often own the copyright attached to the master.