From the course: Music Law: Recording, Management, Rights, and Performance Contracts

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Controlled composition

Controlled composition

From the course: Music Law: Recording, Management, Rights, and Performance Contracts

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Controlled composition

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- Under copyright law, the record company must pay the song owner, what is known as a mechanical royalty. As of 2014, it was 9.1 cents each time a song is physically duplicated and distributed. So if there are 10 songs on an album, the label must pay the song owners 91 cents per album. If the label sells 1,000 copies of that album, copyright law requires that the label pay the song owners a $910 payment. This payment is separate from the payment of record royalties and is made to the song owner. A controlled composition clause lets the record company pay less than the law requires for physically reproducing songs on a cd or a vinyl. Typically, a controlled composition clause allows the record company to pay 75% of the statutory mechanical royalty rate, sometimes referred to as the 3/4 rate, for controlled compositions. A controlled composition is any song used on a recording that the artist controls, that is the artist wrote it, owns it, or co-owns it. So if the clause were included…

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