Get Ready Cause Here They Come: A Look at Problems on the Horizon for Authorship and Termination Rights in Sound Recordings

Authors

Abbott Marie Jones

Abstract

Record companies have long included language in standard recording contracts declaring all sound recordings made by the artist works made for hire. Contractual provisions alone, however, will not be enough to confer work-for-hire status on sound recordings. Thus, record companies also require that artists assign some or all of their copyrights in the recordings to the record company. Beginning in 2013, authors of sound recordings will have the opportunity to exercise their right to terminate and renegotiate those assignments, their bargaining power increased by years of success in the music industry. Whether sound recordings will in fact be considered works made for hire and, if not, just who may be considered the author(s) of the sound recordings with the power to terminate assignments, will be crucial questions for music industry players as 2013 draws nearer.

Recommended Citation

Abbott Marie Jones, Get Ready Cause Here They Come: A Look at Problems on the Horizon for Authorship and Termination Rights in Sound Recordings, 31 UC Law SF Comm. & Ent. L.J. 127 (2008).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_comm_ent_law_journal/vol31/iss1/4