Music Glossary

Back or Backlist Catalogue:

This is a collection of an artist/writer’s music e.g. albums, EPs, and/or singles. Also known as a ‘discography’.

Blanket Licenses:

Blanket licenses are a type of license allowing one to use all the compositions covered under the agreement with no limit on use for one payment (usually annual). most commonly refer to licenses issued by performing rights organizations (PRO) to licensees (restaurants, bars, clubs, etc.) who wish to use the entire catalog of a PRO.

Bundled Services:

A DSP user can access one or more services “bundled” together for the same price.

Business Manager:

A music business manager handles an artist or songwriter’s finances and other logistics, typically without touching their personal lives.

Catalog:

A catalog is a collection of works by one songwriter or one artist, or a group of songwriters or a group of artists.

Compilation Album:

A compilation album contains various recordings featuring multiple artists.

Comps:

Free tickets are offered for an artist’s concert.

Co-Publishing Agreement:

A co-publishing agreement means that while the music publisher has ownership in the copyright and administers its exploitation, another publisher (possibly a songwriter’s own company) controls the other piece of the publisher’s share of ownership. This type of agreement often happens when established songwriters who have a lot of power within the industry establish their own publishing entity and enter into an agreement with another publisher.

Copyright:

A copyright grants protection under the law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible form of expression. Copyright protection affords the composer six exclusive rights which roughly correspond to various licensing processes and revenue streams:

• The right to reproduce the work

• The right to create a derivative work, meaning an adapted work that is directly based on the copyrighted work

• The right to publicly distribute copies of the copyrighted work through sale or for free

• The right to publicly perform the artistic work

• The right to publicly display the artistic work

• For sound recordings: the right to publicly perform the recording through digital audio transmission (not applicable to compositions)

Copyright Act:

Copyright Law of the United States, Title 17 of the United States Code. (See: http://www.copyright.gov/title17).

Cover:

When used as a noun, cover refers to a recording by an artist who is not the original songwriter. When used as a verb, cover refers to the act of recording the song.

Derivative work:

If you sing a cover song and change something about the track (whether it be lyrics, timing, key), your cover has now become a derivative work. Think of it as deriving from another piece of music and, therefore, becoming something new. You will ALWAYS need permission to do these.

Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA):

Passed by Congress in 1998, the DMCA, in broad terms, heightened the consequences of copyright infringement on the Internet. Notably, the Act also revised public performance rights for digital audio transmissions to provide compulsory licensing for digital audio transmissions over non-interactive websites.

Digital Phonorecord Delivery (DPD):

A DPD is another name for a digital download and refers to transmission to the purchaser that allows them to download music to use repeatedly and indefinitely.

Discography:

This is a collection of an artist/writer’s music e.g. albums, EPs, and/or singles. Also known as Back or Backlist Catalogue.

Distribution Agreement:

Many independent artists agree to allow independent distributors to distribute their music according to a distribution agreement between both parties. Major distribution deals also exist in which the label agrees to manufacture and distribute a release.

EP:

Despite the evolution of music technology, EPs are generally considered the middle ground between a standard album and a single, both in cost and length.

EPK:

Short for “electronic press kit”. This is just a computer or web version of an artist’s publicity material: biography, pictures, showreel, news, etc. There are loads of sites with advice on compiling a good one, including ours.

Gold Album:

An album that has sold 500,000 copies is certified by the RIAA as “gold.”

IPI Number: Interested Party Information. An IPI number is a unique, international identification number, usually 9–11 digits long. IPIs are assigned to songwriters, composers, and music publishers that own the rights to the music. 

Independent Distributor:

Independent distributors provide distribution services for both independent artists and record labels. Some independent distributors are affiliated with a major label or a major artist.

ISNI: International Standard Name Identifier (optional). The ISNI is a 16-digit unique code that unambiguously identifies individual writers, artists, performers, and other creators. The ISNI can be linked to other identifier codes to identify writers/artists across multiple platforms.

ISRC: International Standard Recording Code. There can be many recordings of one musical work/song, and each recording of that musical work/song will have its own ISRC code. This is the most commonly known and requested code. Only one ISRC should be issued to a track, and an ISRC can never represent more than one unique recording. 

ISWC: International Standard (Musical) Work Code.  Songs (lyrics and/or composition) are often referred to as musical works, and each song receives on ISWC. It is a unique, internationally recognized 11-character identifier for individual musical works. ISWC numbers identify the works/songs, not recordings. 

Joint Recording:

A joint recording features more than one recording artist.

Joint Work:

A work prepared by two or more authors with the intention that each contribution will merge into one inseparable whole. If one songwriter writes all of the music to joint work and another songwriter writes all of the lyrics to the joint work, each songwriter will own 50% of both the music and lyrics.

Lead Sheet:

Songwriters are often required to submit lead sheets, which is written piece of paper containing the lyrics and music to a song.

Licensee:

A licensee is the recipient of rights under an agreement.

Licensor:

A licensor is the grantor of rights under an agreement.

Masters:

A master is a term used by a record label to refer to a sound recording fixed in tangible form and from which all subsequent copies of the sound recording are made.

Mechanical License:

According to the Harry Fox Agency, a Mechanical License grants to the user the rights to reproduce and distribute copyrighted musical compositions on CDs, records, tapes, ringtones, permanent digital downloads (DPDs), interactive streams, and other digital configurations supporting various business models. In exchange for permission to do so, licensees pay a statutory rate to the copyright owner(s) per reproduction.

Mechanical Royalties:

Mechanical royalties are paid to the owner or administrator of the composition whenever a copy of one of their songs is made. Each time a consumer purchases a sound recording or streams a recording on-demand, music publishers are owed a mechanical royalty, which is then passed on to the songwriter.

Performing Rights Organization (PRO):

According to the Copyright Act, a Performing Rights Organization (PRO) is an association that licenses the public performance of nondramatic musical works on behalf of copyright owners of such works, such as the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), GMR and SESAC, Inc.

Personal Manager:

A personal manager in the music industry works on behalf of a songwriter or artist to handle almost every aspect of their life—both personally and professionally—and act as a guide for their career. The personal manager might seek out professional opportunities for the songwriter or artist, help them with decision-making, oversee their day-to-day schedules, and represent them in negotiations.

Physical Records:

Sound recordings are sold through a tangible medium that takes up physical space and not through digital audio transmission. Examples include CDs, vinyl, cassettes, etc.

Platinum Album:

An album that has sold 1,000,000 copies is certified by the RIAA as “platinum.”

Print License:

A print license is an agreement between a copyright owner (music publisher) and the user of the copyright. It gives permission to rearrange, display, and/or print the sheet music, notes, and/or lyrics of a composition.

Producer:

A producer is someone in charge of the recording process in the recording studio. Producers will have varying levels of creative input depending on the recording artist.

Promoter:

Promoters work alongside publicists and other marketing professionals in order to create promotional opportunities for an artist or project.

Publisher:

A music publisher is responsible for licensing and administering composition copyrights of songwriters. Typically, they secure the placement of songs in the publisher’s catalog where royalties and other revenue will be generated. These revenue streams range from royalties obtained through the licensing of compositions for the purposes of sound

Record Label:

Record labels are companies, large or small, that manufacture, distribute, and promote the recordings of affiliated musicians. Essentially, record labels work to sell the brand of the artist and the products they create. There are various different departments within a record label that work together to best sell and market their products and artists.

Reserves:

Reserves are a certain amount of records or royalties which are withheld “off the top” from the artist by the record label to guard against the label paying royalties on physical records that are subsequently returned by retailers.

Returns:

The retailers to which a distributor sells records sometimes have the right to “return” any unsold physical records to the distributor for full credit. The distributor allows this so that these retailers stock more physical records than they otherwise would.

Ringtones:

A ringtone is a sound recording that someone hears when called on a mobile device instead of the typical mobile phone ring. Typically, ringtones are clips of commercially-released masters and therefore subject to copyright protection.

Score:

The term “score” is used as a common alternative for “sheet music.” Several different types of scores exist: a score can refer to sheet music or to music written specifically for a play, musical, opera, ballet, television program, film, or other production. A “film score” refers to original music written specifically to accompany a film.

Sheet Music:

Sheet music is the printed music of a single song with notes, arrangement, lyrics, chords, and other annotations used by composers to communicate notes, pitch, tempo, rhythm, chords, and other musical details.

Single:

A single is the shortest type of song release in playing time.

SoundExchange:

SoundExchange collects and distributes digital performance royalties from the use of sound recordings on behalf of more than 155,000 recording artists and master rights owners (typically the record label) and administers direct agreements on behalf of rights owners and licensees. It is the only organization officially designated by the U.S. Congress to do so. SoundExchange pays featured and non-featured artists ( background vocalists, session musicians, etc.) and master rights owners for the non-interactive (you don’t choose which song plays) use of sound recordings under the statutory licenses set forth in 17 U.S.C. § 112 and 17 U.S.C. § 114.

Sound Recording:

A sound recording is the reproduction of sound waves into a fixed form from which the contents can be heard or communicated again. The Copyright Act of 1976 defines sound recordings as “works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds but not including sounds accompanying a motion picture or other audiovisual work.” A sound recording is a separate intellectual property from any lyrics, compositions, poetry, script, or speech that may be embodied within it.

SoundScan:

Soundscan is a company that tracks and publishes data from the sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada. Billboard uses SoundScan to create its album charts each week for album sales in the U.S.

Statutory Mechanical Rate:

In the United States, the Copyright Royalty Board issues compulsory Mechanical Royalty rates, known as “statutory rates.” For physical sales/downloads, this rate is 9.1 cents for songs that are under five minutes. For pieces over five minutes in playing time, the rate is 1.75 cents per minute. The rate for ringtones is 24 cents per ringtone.

Subscription Services:

A subscription service offers certain content in exchange for a periodic recurring fee (subscription). However, if the user stops paying the subscription, the content may be no longer available. The subscription model is used by Spotify and other digital streaming services offering music on-demand over the Internet.

Suggested Retail Price:

The Suggested Retail Price of a CD or vinyl album is the price a Distributor “suggests” its retailers use when selling the music to an end consumer. As the name implies, businesses are not required to sell the music at the Suggested Retail Price, though contract terms nearly always bind the retailer to a minimum price. Record companies have traditionally used Suggested Retail Price to calculate the Royalty Base Price for artist royalties, though the wholesale price (PPD) is used more often today.

Synchronization License:

Synchronization licensing is the process by which production companies of audiovisual works clear the rights for outside music to be used in their productions. Both the sound recording copyright and the underlying composition copyright must be cleared in order to use the work in synchronization. Synchronization licenses (“sync,” for short) refer to the “synchronizing” of a musical work with visual work. Sync deals give the licensee the right to use composition copyright and sound recording in an audiovisual work such as a movie, TV show or commercial, video game, or other similar work.

Tour Manager:

Tour managers are responsible for ensuring that an artist’s tour runs according to plan.

Trademark:

A trademark is any word, name, symbol, device, or combination used to identify and distinguish between sources of a good/service.

Venue:

Venue refers to the place where a live performance occurs.

Work Made For Hire:

A work made for hire occurs when Party A employs Party B to create something, but Party A becomes the legal author of the work. In the eyes of the law, Party B will no longer have any rights to the work whatsoever.