Does Rihanna own her masters?
As Pop puppets go, few come as overrated as Rihanna. However, in recent years, the star's narrative is becoming less Pinocchio and more power.
In a cover story for the April issue of Vogue, Abby Aguirre reports that after she released her last album in 2012, Rihanna left her old label and acquired the masters to all of her previous recordings. This is an incredible business move for star who also founded her own label imprint under her new home RocNation.
Many people are aware that Beyonce has her own management and publishing company and has been actively working on getting the rights over her masters. Many cite her moves to start these companies as her moment in receiving the rights over all of her masters as well, but this has not been verified for certain.
jãy on Twitter: "Beyoncé owns her masters and has only licensed her music to Sony since 4 https://t.co/Fu7qMvf44K" / Twitter.
Owning your masters means you own the copyright to the original sound recordings of your music. The copyright of the Sound Recording is generally owned by the artist or record label that they are signed to.
While the 38-year-old rapper is still a part of Young Money Entertainment, sometime last year, she stated that she owns her masters directly.
Despite that, she does not own the masters to her songs and will still find it difficult if she should try to gain control of them. Generally, master recordings belong to record labels, as they are the original recordings of songs or albums.
For West, owning his masters, some of which are held by label Universal Music and publisher Sony/ATV, is personal.
Jay-Z reportedly sold master recordings of Kanye West's first six albums to buy back his own masters in the Roc-A-Fella-Def Jam deal.
As part of the acquisition, the ownership of all of the masters and copyrights owned by Big Machine, including those of Swift's first six studio albums, were transferred to Braun.
Why do artists not own their masters?
The original recording of a song is called a master. Most artists who sign with labels do not own their masters, as they often sign away their rights when signing a contract with a label for distribution purposes.
Jay-Z owns the master recordings and publishing rights to his music, worth approximately $95 million. The man owns several $50 million mansions and a massive art collection worth $70 million as of 2019. Roc Nation is Jay-Z's entertainment company he started over 10 years ago with Live Nation.
Ray Charles First Black Artist To Own His Masters - Lynne Haze.
“By owning your master recordings, you keep creative control and you're free to release your music however you want via whichever channels you choose,” says Paul Hitchman, President of AWAL. And, he points out, if an artist does ever choose to sign to a label, owning your master recordings is like having an upper hand.
Chris Brown Signs a New Deal +Becomes One of the Youngest Artists to Own his Masters. The year is starting off great for Chris Brown. The 29-year-old singer just signed a new deal with RCA records and will released his new album entitled Indigo under the new deal.
Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Stevie Nicks and Neil Young are some of the biggest artists who made headlines for selling off their musical catalogs.
Last week, we learned Lil Wayne sold his masters to Universal Music Group for $100 million. A new report unveils that Drake, Nicki Minaj and Tyga's catalogs under Young Money were sold along with Lil Wayne's catalog.
A new court filing alleges what has been rumored for a while now, that the Young Money head honcho sold all of his masters, as well as Drake and Nicki Minaj's, for $100 million.
This is a great business decision on Janet's part, as it allows her to own the masters to all the songs on the new album.
On the surface, Swift's lack of ownership over her masters is not a unique position—other recording artists like Drake, Katy Perry, and Ariana Grande do not own their masters, while independent artists such as Chance the Rapper and Frank Ocean, who create and release music without signing to major record labels, own ...
Does Whitney Houston own her masters?
One major difference between Whitney and Michael's estates is that Whitney did not write or own the masters of any of her most popular songs. "How Will I Know", "Saving All My Love", "I Will Always Love You", were all written and produced by other musicians and composers.
The purchase of the label included the masters for Swift's albums Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation. In November 2020, it was reported that Braun once more sold Big Machine Records' assets, including Swift's masters of her first six records, to an investment firm for $450 million.
"I'm independent because I own all my recording rights and publishing rights and distribution, everything," he said on a podcast in 2018. LL Cool J made himself clear when he tweeted "FYI. I own my music masters. past present and future." He added, "Ps.
Then in June 2020, Lil Wayne sold his masters to Universal Music Group for $100 million.
2. No one would sign Kanye West, then Roc-A-Fella did it reluctantly. Before 'Ye's debut album The College Dropout was released and he became a household name, the rapper worked as an in-house producer at Roc-A-Fella records and is often credited for much of the success Jay Z's 2001 album The Blueprint found.
...
| Kanye West | |
|---|---|
| Formerly of | Child Rebel Soldier Kids See Ghosts The Throne |
| Website | kanyewest.com |
West released his first six records on Roc-A-Fella, the label owned by Jay-Z. However, when Def Jam bought the label in 2004, the label owner and rapper reportedly sold the rights to records including 'College Dropout' and 'Late Registration' in a deal that would secure his own masters.
Snoop Dogg Reveals He Now Owns The Masters to Dr. Dre's 'The Chronic' After Death Row Acquisition – X102. 3.
Beyoncé's ventures include records, a streaming music service, modeling and serving as a spokeswoman for Pepsi and L'Oreal, fashion labels, and film production. Beyoncé's company is called Parkwood Entertainment.
Songs that become hits can command master license fees as high as $100,000 or more. If the artist has repaid the label's investment (aka advance) through record sales (or earned artist royalties, a process known as recoupment), then the artist may share in some of these third-party master license revenues.
Can an artist get their masters back?
Due to a legal provision outlined in the 1976 Copyright Revision Act, artists whose albums were released in the year 1978 and afterward all become eligible to file paperwork with the U.S. Copyright Office allowing them to reclaim ownership of their music copyrights and master recordings from their record labels after a ...
Master Rights Reversion
An album typically has a lifespan of one to three years before an artist releases the next one, so you can request that ownership revert to you after perhaps two to five years. Of course, it will then be up to you to negotiate any licensing deals as the label would be out of the picture.
Traditional Record Label Deals
In return for all this short-term excitement, the artist signs away the master rights to the recordings, meaning the label then owns the masters for a given period of time, which is often in perpetuity (meaning forever!).
The original recording of a song is called a master. Most artists who sign with labels do not own their masters, as they often sign away their rights when signing a contract with a label for distribution purposes.
On the surface, Swift's lack of ownership over her masters is not a unique position—other recording artists like Drake, Katy Perry, and Ariana Grande do not own their masters, while independent artists such as Chance the Rapper and Frank Ocean, who create and release music without signing to major record labels, own ...
100% ownership of your music: Independent artists own the master rights to their music. They also have the freedom to negotiate music licensing and publishing deals. Moreover, they don't have to worry about confusing contracts, expensive lawyers, and signing over their music rights.
