Temporary Blogging

There are few musical acts that hold the title of “greatest.” Greatness is quantified, usually, by musical quality and consistency, performances, notability, influence on popular culture and other artists, awards, as well as how they have pushed the artistry of music forward. We assume these musicians are filthy rich, and most of the time they are. We also assume they have control but most of the time, they don’t.

The Beatles, and by extension Paul McCartney, need no introduction. The Beatles’ catalog of their master recordings has famously changed hands many times, from the Beatles themselves through shares of the recording company Northern Stars, to Sony/ATV, to Michael Jackson, and then Sony again. So, only for a short point of time, did the Beatles themselves own their music that they created. McCartney was able to settle with Sony in 2017 to regain the copyright to the catalog, though it seems this legal battle is confidential. This story of ownership displays how important owning your masters can be.

A master recording is the original recording of the song, and whoever owns the rights to it can use the song in any way they want, including licensing it for commercial use or allowing others to perform it. It is incredibly valuable because it is how you can get the most out of your creation and have the most control over it. The problem is, many record companies, not musicians, own masters and quite frankly it is ridiculous that artists cannot own their creation and profit off of it.

The explanation for why record companies own masters is that they need to gain money from the financial risk that is investing in artists. But if after the money is made, the musician is a superstar, and the hype has died down, why do record labels still hold onto the copyright? Why do executives draw out lengthy and expensive legal battles to still hold onto master recordings? The answer is very simple: money. Under current copyright law in the U.S. record companies can hold the copyright to an artist’s music for 35 years (if the music was made post-1977) before rights can be transferred to the artist. That is 3 and a half decades of earnings that are not going to an artist. It is also important to note that by the time an artist gains ownership of the music, it may be well past its prime. It no longer holds the same value it did 30 years ago when it was at its peak virality. And this is the best case scenario, because many times executives will write in clauses or other loopholes into contracts to own the music for even longer. Even if an artist can somehow bring attention back to the song or license it to any brand that might come their way, it will still not make up for all the money an artist missed out on.

Many rising artists have begun self-publishing their works on SoundCloud, YouTube, and sometimes TikTok to avoid the restrictions of record labels. An early example of this could be seen with the Odd Future collective, a group of independent artists from Los Angeles who released their own music and branded merch. The most successful acts from that collective, such as Tyler, the Creator and Frank Ocean, are now household names who operate under independent labels.

But what about artists currently trapped in this cycle? It seems open rebellion and self-advocacy has been working, seen in Megan Thee Stallion’s current legal battle with her label 1501 Certified Entertainment. She won $1 million in an early legal battle with them and continues to fight for emancipation. Megan is also signed to Jay-Z’s label Roc Nation, which has greatly helped her in fighting the current contract. Artists who have already been screwed over by the machine, such as Prince and Taylor Swift, have re-recorded their albums that have been locked away from them. It’s still important to note that these artists are superstars, however, with the legal and financial resources to fight these battles

Record labels owning master recordings is the exploitative system that is the music industry working, not a flaw. It has been set up like this since recording labels were started. Musicians have to be careful and smart about who they sign contracts with, especially for artists who may not be in the best place financially when they shop around to different labels. It’s important for them to learn from the mistakes other musicians made and be a self-advocate.