Territory of agreement
Lesson time: (1min 54sec)
Judge Jules explains how recording and licensing deals can be struck globally or carved up territory by territory, and when each approach makes sense.
Course preview
This lesson is part of the course Legals & Deals: The Basics of The Music Industry
Watch a preview of the full course below.
Lesson transcript:
The Evolution of Music Rights Licensing
Back in the day, if you were an in-demand artist, what you really wanted to do was piecemeal sell the rights to your hot tracks to individual territories or countries.
The Traditional Approach
- Separate Licensing: Artists could sign their tracks separately for various regions. For example:
- America: Sign with one label.
- Japan: Work with a different label.
- Germany: Another market, another label.
This approach was beneficial, especially when music wasn't released digitally via streaming.
The Current Landscape
Currently, it's much more unusual to see segmented licensing; however, if you are capable of doing it and are in demand enough, it might still make sense to:
- Piecemeal Release: This strategy allows for:
- More bespoke attention to your tracks.
- Individual marketing teams.
- Specialized labels in each key music market.
Focus on Major Markets
It's important to focus your efforts on the biggest music markets in the world, which are:
- United States
- Japan
- United Kingdom
- Germany
While I'd be a liar if I told you what number five is, those are the key markets to prioritize.
Niche Markets
If you have other markets that are critical for the genre of music you're involved in, consider:
- Australia: Notable for dance music; you might want to retain your rights there as well.
Streaming Era Considerations
The streaming era doesn't completely eliminate the possibility of individual licensing in certain territories.
- Country-Specific Operations: Streaming platforms like Spotify function on a country-by-country basis.
- Income Flow: Spotify in the US would send income to your US label, while Spotify UK would send to your UK label, and so forth.
However, it's important to note that this is an ideal scenario.
The Trend
There are fewer deals made in this way because most labels prefer to release music globally, even if they aren't necessarily performing well in every individual territory.
About the instructor
Jules O'Riordan has over 30 years of experience across the entire spectrum of the music industry. This includes nearly a decade as an A&R for the Universal umbrella of labels, 15 years as a presenter on BBC Radio 1, over 150 record releases and remixes in his own capacity as a recording artist, plus a 30-year career as one of Britain's best-known, globally-travelled DJs (Judge Jules), with over 5000 gigs under his belt, plus extensive experience as an event promoter and artist manager at the highest level. Suffice to say, Jules knows the music industry inside-out, and his clients regard him as a trusted advisor for whom no legal or business affairs challenge or problem is too large or small. Jules has been a lawyer for 10 years. His practice takes in the entire breadth of the music-focused entertainment industry. His legal and deal expertise includes management, recording, publishing, distribution and label services, music-based apps, games and tech projects, production deals, producers, featured artists, endorsements, merchandising, neighbouring rights, TV/film scores, live performance, events and venue agreements, plus copyright and rights infringement and many other disputes. Jules's clients include artists, management companies, record labels, songwriters, event promoters, producers, music tech businesses, production companies, live agents, music publishers and DJs. He has spoken on many panels and seminars including ADE, Brighton Music Conference and AIM events, and has been a guest speaker on legal issues across a number of on and off-line media outlets, including BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Introducing, Financial Times, The Sun, The Times and Mixmag. Jules speaks fluent Spanish. Who better to demystify the contracts and deals every musician eventually faces? In his course, Jules turns three decades of hard-won industry knowledge into plain-English guidance, so you can understand the business side of music and protect your work long before you sign on the dotted line. read more