Hi, I'll jump in here for some additional clarity. (Hi Kentaro Sato, nice to see you here!)
The music industry worldwide does not have great methods in place for royalties in buy-out situations. For example, a lot of AAA game soundtracks, or those composed by in-house composers for game studios, are buy outs, and this complicates many licensing flows.
The most important part to mention is that there are two copyrights to consider: the musical composition (theme, motif, melody, chord, structure, lyrics) and the record of this composition. These can be owned by different parties. Different laws apply to both, and different royalties exist for different usages.
For example, a sale of a digital song on iTunes results in a master royalty (paid to distributors/labels), and a mechanical royalty (which should go to music publishers/song writers). (That's the cover song royalty.)
In the United States, the mechanical royalty is passed on to the label, and they label has to pay it to a publisher or rights-holders.
However, outside the US, music rights are collectively managed. In Japan, Germany, and elsewhere, mechanical royalties are paid to PROs (Performing Rights Organizations), who collect and retain those royalties. It is the responsibility of rights holders to come forward, register their songs, and claim these royalties. Claiming periods also expire, so in some countries, if rights holders are negligent and do not claim their royalties, the royalties expire after 2, 3, 5 years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jazz Paladin
As far as I can tell, there is no control that the artist has over which territories the music is sold in once it hits distrubtion via whatever channel the artist used as a sales tool.
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Most DIY distribution companies do not allow territory carve-outs. Professional label distribution companies do allow this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kentaro Sato
Amazon and Spotify are platforms, and not record producers. And as such, getting correct license is responsibility for a record producer.
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Yes, Amazon and iTunes are directly responsibility for many rights. They need to have licenses in place with PROs, publishers, and other legal entities to be able to sell or stream music in each territory. For example, LINE Music does not have licenses in place with rights holders in the United States, and therefore cannot stream music in the US yet.
To wrap it up:
- Cover song artists are required to have their own licenses to distribute cover songs in the US.
- Platforms and storefronts are required to have licenses to sell/stream content in all territories
- Publishers and rightsholders are responsible for claiming and collecting their rights, delivering catalogs to appropriate agencies, and making sure they are paid for all uses.
- In all cases is it appropriate and sensible to ask composers and rights holders for licenses. Unfortunately, not many game companies are interested in licensing rights to individuals, do not have an understanding of the music world, or do not have time to fulfill their obligations on an international level.
It is indeed a very complicated world. I have extensively spoken at panels and tradeshows, and have spent the last decade educating the video game music community on these rights, in the hopes that more composers are paid accurately and fairly.
( If any of you are at GDC, come to my panel on music rights!
https://schedule.gdconf.com/session/...t-panel/860237 )