09/04/2025
From Orlando Law:
A music producer can have several key rights depending on the type of agreement and contribution. These rights are usually negotiated and secured through contracts like producer agreements, split sheets, recording contracts, or publishing deals.
Copyright Ownership: By default, a producer owns
copyright in the beats, instrumentals, or sound recordings they create unless they sign it away.
Royalties from Masters: If you produce a track that gets commercially released, you may be entitled to a percentage of master royalties.
Typical ranges: 2% - 5% of net receipts from the sound recording.
Publishing Rights: If you contribute to the composition
e.g., melody, lyrics, hooks, chords you're entitled to publishing income.
Producer Points ("Backend"): This is the industry standard term for percentage based royalties.
Example: If a producer gets 3 points on a song and the track generates $100,000 in master revenue, they get $3,000.
Advance Payments: Producers often negotiate an upfront payment for their work, which can be:
Non-recoupable: You keep it no matter what.
Recoupable: Deducted from your future royalties.
Moral Rights: In some countries (e.g., EU, Nigeria partially), producers may also have moral rights:
Right to be credited properly.
Right to object if the work is distorted or misused.
Credit Rights: Producers should always negotiate
production credits: "Produced by [Your Name]" on DSPs, liner notes, and metadata.
Failure to credit properly can be a breach of contract.
Sync Licensing Participation : When a song you produced gets licensed for: Movies, TV series, Commercials, Video games...you should negotiate a share of the sync fee if you co-own the master or composition.
Share this to Any producer you know to help protect them and expose them to the rights they own.
