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Protect the ownership of your work and maximise your income in the music industry

URN: CCSMT15
Business Sectors (Suites): Sound Recording and Music Technology
Developed by: ScreenSkills
Approved on: 2020

Overview

​This standard is about protecting the ownership of your work and maximising your income in the music industry. This is aside from daily freelance fees and is about intellectual property, copyright, royalties and protecting the ownership of your work for the future in the UK.

This standard includes keeping up to date with developments in legislation and practice, identifying your rights, negotiating contracts that recognise your rights, making sure mechanisms for payment are in place and respecting other people's rights.

This standard is for freelance recording engineers, editing engineers, mastering engineers, mix engineers and programmers.

Performance criteria

You must be able to:

  1. ​keep up-to-date with developments in legislation and practice in intellectual property (IP), copyright and royalties in the music and sound industries
  2. identify all opportunities in your work for intellectual property ownership, copyright and royalties
  3. make sure you contracts recognise any intellectual property ownership and copyright rights you may have
  4. register your work through the correct channels at relevant times
  5. make sure all mechanisms for you to receive any ongoing income for your work are in place
  6. make sure you comply with legal requirements in relation to other people's intellectual property and copyright rights

Knowledge and Understanding

You need to know and understand:

  1. ​methods of UK IP ownership and transfer of rights, synchronisation rights, cessation of Copyright
  2. legal frameworks, legislation and treaties for the music industry including Copyright treaties
  3. how to earn revenue in sound and music industries through royalties
  4. the role of producers and engineers within the UK music scene
  5. streaming, digital distribution and meta data credits, issues and information
  6. collection agencies and their role in the UK
  7. revenue music member organisations and their role
  8. producer managers within the UK and their role
  9. the UK organisations specifically in place for producers & engineers
  10. how to manage other people's audio materials including what should or should not be done with other people's audio materials (permissions/rights)
  11. copyrights and revenue earnings for co-writers and song writers
  12. the use of writer shares on 'new works' PRS for Music forms and when they are appropriate
  13. the economic impact of illegal IP music piracy and the impact of Illegal downloads on artist and record companies
  14. producer, remixer and recording engineer contracts between both record company and artist
  15. basic arrangements and rights with development work such as Producer and Artist(s)
  16. what a producer  'percentage point' system is likely to mean

Scope/range

Scope Performance

Scope Knowledge

Values

Behaviours

Skills

Glossary

Links To Other NOS

External Links

Version Number

2

Indicative Review Date

2024

Validity

Current

Status

Original

Originating Organisation

Creative & Cultural Skills

Original URN

CCSMT27

Relevant Occupations

Recording Engineers, Recording Producers, Mix Engineers, Assistant Engineers , Programmers , Tape Ops, Writers , OB/Post Engineers, Editing Engineers, Mastering Engineers, Film Scorers, Pre and Post Production

SOC Code

3417

Keywords

Intellectual property; IP; Copyright; Royalties; Contracts; Music; Sound; Sound Recording; Music Technology;