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When using someone else’s recording on your release, you’ll need a signed Master License from the Master Rights Owner of the recording.
If you are a label who owns all of the masters by the various artists appearing on the recording, you will need to show Furnace a document showing us that these recordings are currently under your control and not under a separate license from the band/owner. You will also need to pay Mechanical Licenses (as you should be doing with all the records you sell on your label.)
Let’s say you sampled a killer drum beat by the Meters or you’d like to include some dialog from a Star Wars (hopefully not JarJar Binks). You’ll need to submit a contract to Furnace stating that you have permission from the Master Rights Owners of that recording in the form of a Master License (direct from the label or film company). You MAY also need to pay for and secure a Mechanical License from either the Harry Fox Agency or directly from whoever controls the publishing.
If you cover a song by another artist, you are the Master Rights holder of that recording but you will still need to secure a Mechanical License so that the royalties are paid to the owner of the song’s publishing. Head over to http://www.songfile.com/ to register and pay for the required Mechanical License.
What is a Master License?
The Master Rights owner is the band, artist, label, estate, etc. who owns the master tapes - usually the person or entity who financed the recording. A Master License from the owner grants you the right to include an artist’s song(s) on your replicated finished goods (Vinyl, Digital, Download Card files, etc.)
What is a Mechanical License?
A mechanical license grants the rights to reproduce and distribute copyrighted musical compositions (songs) on Vinyl, CDs, tapes, ringtones, permanent digital downloads, interactive streams and other digital configurations. If you want to record and distribute a song that you don’t own or control, or if your business requires the distribution of music that was written by others, you need to get a mechanical license.
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