14 Mar 2009
Filed Under : Music
Posted By : Emma Forman | Comments : 2
may be a silly question but I'll ask anyway
I was just pondering this question and wondered if anyone knows the answer... If you win free recording time who owns the masters to the tracks since you didn't pay for them?
That's a real poser Emma. From an artistic standpoint, I would say you. BUT, from a commercial point of view, it would be the studio. I guess you need to ask the question "why is the studio giving away free recording time?" Answer: Because they may get some gem of an artist with terrific original songs that they can then release and make money. Equally they could end up with a complete no-hoper, that is the risk. I guess the terms and conditions need to be understood before the recording session. At the end of the day there is no such thing as a “free lunch”. The studio has to make money and there are prepared to risk free studio time hoping to get the costs back another way.
Na, the artist holds the copyright on their work. I held half a dozen annual songwriting competitions a few years ago and the first prize was always recording time somewhere, nobody had any problems. If you're worried, just offer to but the DAT or whatever it is they're recorded on these days. the studio can't do anything with them as far as distribution goes (although they could put em on Myspace or something) in the end a studio is just for recording...they can't go to a label and just say release this, without your consent. If you're talking proper commercial release, the pressing plants can't do it without signed authority re ownership of song etc. You aint gonna win anyway,....I am!!! LOL
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