Music Industry and Business Flashcards
Grade 11 · Music · Flashcards
Essential vocabulary for understanding how the modern music industry is structured, how rights work, and how artists get paid.
Flashcards
- Master Recording
- The original recorded version of a song; whoever owns the master controls its distribution and licensing.
- Composition Copyright
- The copyright on a song's underlying melody and lyrics, separate from the master recording.
- Record Label
- A company that funds, distributes, and markets music in exchange for ownership of masters and a percentage of royalties.
- Music Publisher
- An entity that manages a songwriter's composition rights, licenses their music, and collects royalties on their behalf.
- Mechanical Royalty
- A royalty paid to the songwriter/publisher each time their composition is reproduced — via streaming, download, or physical copy.
- Performance Royalty
- A royalty paid when music is performed publicly (radio, concert, streaming); collected by PROs like ASCAP and BMI.
- Sync License
- A license to use music in visual media (film, TV, ads, games); requires clearing both master and composition rights.
- Advance
- Upfront money paid by a label to an artist; treated as a recoupable loan against future royalties.
- Recoupment
- The label's recovery of its advance from artist royalties before the artist receives additional earnings.
- 360 Deal
- A record contract where the label takes a share of all artist revenue streams, including touring, merch, and endorsements.
- ASCAP / BMI / SESAC
- Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) that license public performances of music and distribute royalties to songwriters and publishers.
- Independent Artist
- A musician who releases music without a major label deal, typically retaining ownership of their masters and a larger share of revenue.
- Streaming Payout Rate
- The per-stream royalty paid by platforms like Spotify, typically $0.003–$0.005 per stream, requiring millions of plays for significant income.
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