Abstract
The traditional music publisher roles of evaluating promising songwriters and composers; persuading vocalists to record acquired music; marketing songs to radio and music television disc jockeys; negotiating synchronization rights for television and movie music; and collecting royalties payments have changed with the advent of digital technologies. The distinction between a music publisher and a record label can be confusing because the terms are often used interchangeably. To complicate matters further, the record labels can be subsidiaries of the major publisher, and the record label may perform some of the functions of a publisher as shown in Tables 8.1 and 8.2.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
See Bach (2004).
- 3.
- 4.
See F.B.T. Productions vs. Aftermath Records (2010).
- 5.
See Thall (2006) for numerous other examples of unethical behavior.
- 6.
- 7.
See Yagoda (2015, p. 37).
- 8.
Copyrights are intangible property rights.
- 9.
See Copyright Act (2011, Sections 203 and 304).
- 10.
- 11.
Can’t Stop Music is the exclusive sub-publisher and copyright administrator in the United States of musical compositions published and owned by Scorpio Music, a French publisher. Mr. Willis’s termination letter to the publisher, an exhibit with the 33 songs involved, the publishers’ complaint to the court and other documentation in the case can be found here: Scorpio Music S.A. vs. Willis (2011). According to Christman (2013), it is not only Mr. Willis who has filed termination notices with the Copyright Office, other artists and their heirs such as Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Mort Shuman, Doc Pomus, Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Willie Nelson, Steve Cropper, Buddy Holly, Bo Diddley, Lloyd Price, Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart, Daryl Hall, and John Oates have filed as well.
- 12.
Additional details of the court ruling can be found here: Scorpio Music S.A. vs. Willis (2012).
- 13.
See Christman (2012b).
- 14.
- 15.
See Sisario (2012a).
- 16.
See Christman (2012a).
- 17.
As discussed in Christman (2012a).
- 18.
See the discussion by Robertson (2011) on why the current model of pay-per-play is called unhealthy.
- 19.
The quotation appears here: Christman (2012a).
- 20.
- 21.
- 22.
See http://www.ultimatechart.com and Billboard, Nielsen Add YouTube Video Streaming To Its Platforms; Data Enhances Hot 100, Other Charts, http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/chart-alert/1549398/billboard-nielsen-add-youtube-video-streaming-to-its-platforms.
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Pitt, I.L. (2015). Roles of Publishers, Record Labels, and Producers. In: Direct Licensing and the Music Industry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17653-6_8
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