Derivative Work

A song that uses pre-existing material to create a new composition or sound recording.

Licensor

The entity that grants a license to someone else.

Licensee

The holder of a license.

User Generated Content (UGC)

Content created by a user of a particular platform.

Third Party Content

Content created by someone that is used by someone else. For example, reposting an image on social media.

Sync License

A music synchronization license is granted by the copyright holder, and allows the song to be synchronized with moving image, normally in film, TV or advertisements.

Sampling

When an artist or producer uses an element of a pre-existing recording by someone else in their work.

Royalty

Money that an artist makes from their music.

QC

Quality Control.

Public Domain

Music in the 'public domain' is not protect by intellectual property law, and is therefore free to use without permission.

Neighbouring Rights Organisations

Organization that collects public performance royalties on behalf of the copyright owner and performers of a sound recording.

Public Performance

Music communicated to the public. That includes TV, broadcast, radio and etc.

Mechanical Royalties

Royalties earned through the reproduction of copyrighted works.

Mechanical Rights

The “mechanical” right is the right to reproduce a sound recording or musical composition.

Freemium

A DSP that offers a basic, limited, ad-supported streaming for free and a premium, ad-free service behind a paywall.

LP (Long Play)

A full-length album, consisting of 7 or more tracks.

EP (Extended Play)

Each DSP has its own way of categorizing this type of product, but an EP is often 4-6 tracks and no more than 30 minutes long.

Master

A post-production process that balances the sonic elements of a mix to optimize playback in multiple formats.

Mix

Mixing is the process of combining multitrack recordings into a final product.

Demo

A song recorded as a reference, rather than for release.

Blanket License

A license that provides access to the rightsholder's entire catalogue.

Performance Rights Organization (PRO)

A performance rights organisation is responsible for collecting license fees on behalf of songwriters and publishers when a song is publicly broadcast or performed, for example, on TV or Radio.
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