If you want to understand music royalties, it all starts with copyright. You’re probably familiar with the concept, but just for clarity…
A copyright is a form of intellectual property meant to protect original works, including original songs and recordings.
By owning the copyright to an original musical work, a rights holder generally has the opportunity to earn income when someone else uses their music.
“Use” could mean a lot of things. If someone reproduces a copyrighted piece of music, distributes it, performs it, displays it, or creates a derivative work…
The owners of those copyrights typically are entitled to receive royalties and other fees.
There are two distinct categories of music that can be protected by copyrights — composition and sound recording.
Bob Dylan, for example, wrote an original composition called “All Along the Watchtower.”
Composition refers to the underlying elements of a song, like melody and lyrics.
For comparison, Jimi Henrix didn’t write “All Along the Watchtower,” but he recorded his own version of it — which is an original sound recording.
Sound recording refers to a particular recorded performance of a composition.
There are different types of royalties and fees associated with each rights type, and different rights holders who might earn them — resulting in completely different income streams.
JKBX Royalty Shares entitle you to a piece of those income streams.
And each Royalty Share listing tells you key details you should be aware of.
Rights Type tells you if the copyright underlying the Royalty Share is a composition or a sound recording — and specifies the original owner or controller of the income.
You'll also see the original owner or controller of the income, which could be a songwriter, recording artist, producer, or record label.
This will help you more accurately identify the work, especially in cases where there are multiple songs with the same name.
And income sources will provide a list of all the different types of royalties and fees underlying the Royalty Share. Essentially, it tells you how the composition or sound recording makes money.
We invite you to continue learning about royalties, copyrights, and the other factors at play on the JKBX platform.