royalty-free music
Royalty-free describes a licensing model, not an absence of rights. The user pays once, or nothing, for permission to use a track within agreed limits, without owing further payments each time a video is viewed or the track is played. The music remains protected by copyright, and the licence defines where, how and for how […]
sample clearance
Sample clearance is the process of obtaining permission to reuse part of an existing recording. A sample usually contains two protected works, so clearance normally means two licences: one from the owner of the master recording, typically a label, and one from the owners of the composition, typically publishers. How strict the law is depends […]
streaming royalties
Streaming royalties are the money services such as Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube pay for the music they stream. There is no fixed price per play. In the common pro-rata or streamshare model, revenue from subscriptions and advertising is pooled, and each rights holder receives roughly its share of total streams: a catalogue with 1% […]
UPC/EAN
UPC (Universal Product Code) and EAN (originally European Article Number) are barcode numbers from the GS1 system, which identifies trade items worldwide through the Global Trade Item Number, or GTIN. A UPC-A barcode carries a 12-digit GTIN-12, while an EAN-13 barcode carries a 13-digit GTIN-13; a GTIN-12 can be written as a GTIN-13 by adding […]
master recording
In studio language, the master is the finished version of a recording from which all copies, downloads and streams derive. In rights language, the master is the sound recording itself as a protected object, distinct from the composition it contains. One composition can exist in many masters: a 1950s recording of a jazz standard and […]
musical composition
A musical composition is the work behind a recording: its melody, harmony and rhythm, plus lyrics if there are any. Copyright law treats it separately from every sound recording of it. The US Copyright Office illustrates the point with the song “Respect” and Aretha Franklin’s recording of it, which are two distinct works. Composition rights […]
playlist
A playlist is a sequence of tracks meant to be played one after another. The word comes from radio, where it described the records a station planned to play, and the idea lived on in home-made mixtapes and CD compilations before becoming the main way many people listen on streaming services. On platforms such as […]
public domain
A work is in the public domain when no copyright or related right protects it any longer, so anyone may copy, perform, record, sample or adapt it without permission. Most works get there when their term of protection ends, though some creators dedicate their work early with tools such as CC0. Timing varies by country […]
ISRC
The ISRC, or International Standard Recording Code, identifies individual sound recordings and music videos. Standardised as ISO 3901 and coordinated by the International ISRC Registration Authority, based at IFPI in London, it has been recommended to the recording industry since 1988. It identifies a specific recording, not the underlying composition, a product or a performer. […]
24/7 live stream
A 24/7 live stream is a broadcast that never stops: instead of only uploading separate videos, a channel streams a continuous programme of music, often with a looping animation, a live chat and a list of the tracks playing. In lo-fi the format became iconic through the long-running Lofi Girl stream on YouTube, left on […]