Record Label
A company that signs artists, funds recordings and usually owns the masters
Related
A record label signs artists, funds recordings and markets them. Its core asset is usually the master: contracts often assign the recording copyright to the label, while the artist earns an artist royalty on sales or streams. It is not a publisher — the label handles recordings, the publisher handles songs.
The usual mistake is to think a deal means the company pays for everything: advances, recording and marketing costs are typically recovered from the artist's royalties, so little may arrive until recoupment. Label-services deals and 360 deals have changed master ownership and income scope. Ask who owns the master, what the rate is, and what the label actually does.
Read deeper → master rights
Sources
- 唱片合约与厂牌职能，参通行音乐产业教材（Donald S. Passman, All You Need to Know About the Music Business）；本文为通识说明，不构成法律意见
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.