Dive into the language of the music industry with our comprehensive glossary. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to refresh your knowledge, this resource is here to clarify key terms and concepts.
Term
Definition
Definición
The division of a record label or music company that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists and songwriters.
An arrangement is the modifications or new complementary musical layers to the original musical work (for example, composing the instrumental lines of piano, bass, and drums for the performers).
The arranger is a musical composer who modify or adapt a pre-existing musical work. This role could be played by a professional specialist, the work’s author, the performers themselves, a musical director, or a music producer.
Audio monitoring companies are responsible for monitoring all uses made of phonograms in a geographical area and reporting to CMOs and rights holders, so they can claim payments for those uses, and more importantly, for the fair distribution of what is collected.
The audiovisual producer is the one who provides the financial resources to make these recordings and therefore is the one who has the exploitation rights over them
The author is the creator of the musical work. This could be a music composer, lyricist, or both. They are by default the holders of the copyright and the ones who will enjoy the economic returns generated by the exploitation of the musical work.
Authors’ rights refer to the protections and privileges that creators have over their musical works. By default, these rights belong to the creator and author, making them the initial owner. Authors’ rights include moral and economic rights.
The business manager is responsible for managing the artist’s finances, including their income and expenses.
Collective Management Organization. Authors’ CMO refers to the Collective Management Organisation for authors. It is in charge of creating collective licences that include the public performance and mechanical reproduction rights of all the musical works of the holders it represents, usually authors and music publishers.
Commercial spaces could be establishments of any kind or transport companies, and the managers of these spaces can play music as part of the product or service they offer or to enhance the ambiance.
The community manager is in charge of the strategy and management of the artist’s social networks, from posting to responding to comments.
The concert booking agent is the one who negotiates and sells the artist’s show to music promoters. In other words, they are responsible for securing concerts for the artist.
The digital distributor is responsible for distributing the music to the different DSPs.
The DSP (Digital Service Provider): refers to any digital service provider, including:
● Streaming platforms allowing users to listen to any phonogram in their catalogue at any time from any device, online or offline.
● Download platforms enabling users to download phonograms.
● Social networks, also called UGC platforms (user-generated content), where users generate content that they interact with and react to. Much of this content tends to be videos containing phonograms.
Economic rights enable the author to do business in relation to the use of their musical work:
1. Reproduction rights: applies each time the musical work is fixed or copied, wholly or partly, on any medium.
2. Public performance rights: applies when the musical work can be heard through a live performance or a phonogram, except when heard personally through a download, vinyl, CD, and other legally acquired products containing phonograms.
The equitable remuneration is a compulsory license that must be paid when recorded music is played on a publicly accessible location.
The performer who owns the music brand under which the interpretation is marketed.
IPI (Interested Party Information), also known in some places as CAE (Composer, Author, and Publisher) is a unique identifier of any right holder of a musical work.
For authors, linked to the IPI number would be details such as official names, date of birth, and in some cases, stage name, among other information, as well as information about the authors’ CMOs representing them and in which territories.
For the publisher, linked to the IPI number would be details such as legal name, commercial name, place and date of formation, as well as information about the authors’ CMOs representing them and in which territories
The legal manager reviews and negotiates contracts according to the instructions given by the personal manager.
The lighting technician is the one who is in charge of the lighting of the musical performance.
Live performance is what the live music business is generated around. Typically, live performance occurs within a show that may include more than just the live performance itself, and this show takes place at a specific time and location, making it a live music event.
Mastering mainly involves compressing the phonogram and making final equalisations. This allows the volume to be substantially increased, and the phonogram can sound pleasant on practically any sound device.
Metadata is information that allows for the identification of recordings and musical works in relation to their rights holders.
Mixing is the process in which the volumes of each instrument and voice are regulated, and small effects and frequency adjustments are added.
Moral rights provide non-economic rights to the author. For example, allowing the author to be recognised as the original creator of the musical work. Or, in some countries, enabling the author to designate who and how will disclose their musical work for the first time.
MRO or Mechanical Rights Organisation is a type of CMO specialised only in mechanical reproduction.
Music brand is he denominative brand, name, or sign used for the commercialisation of any product or service derived from music. In the case of artists, the music brand normally consists of the denominative brand, which is the name of the artist, and in some cases, also the image of the people who are part of the band.
Music programmer is the one who chooses what music is played on a radio station, and that decision depends on several factors, with the main one being the retention of their target audience, which allows them to earn money from advertising.
The music promoter is who takes on the economic risk of the concert or festival where a live performance will take place. It is the person or organisation covering all costs associated with the artist and their show, in addition to renting the venue, production, marketing, licences for the musical works that will be performed. And at the same time, they will retain the money generated by ticket sales and other business ventures.
The music publisher is the music business player which role is to maximise the revenues from the exploitation of a musical work. Firstly, it encourages the creation of musical works to give them the best possible promotion. Secondly, it manages work with the Authors’ CMO from registration to claims. And thirdly, it directly manages some licences when these are not managed through the CMO, like synchronisation.
The music venue is the space where the show will be held. In some cases, the venue is already specially equipped for such shows, and in other cases, the space has to be adapted. It is in this space where other businesses such as the sale of food and drinks, or advertising of sponsors, can also be exploited.
The musical work is a set of instructions that a performer uses in the performance of a musical piece with their voice or any other instrument. The musical work does not have sound in itself and there are only two ways to convey a musical work: graphically, via musical notation on staff or via MIDI, and sonically, via performance (whether by voice or any other instrument) or the recording of a performance.
Neighbouring rights are the intellectual property rights that protect the creators and owners of the performance (the neighbouring rights of the performer) and creators and owners of the phonogam (by neighbouring rights of the phonogram producer).
The performer who does not have any ownership over the commercial brand and is usually a hired musician.
A musical performance occurs when a person creates sound with their voice or other instruments, following the instructions of a musical work.
The personal assistant typically manages the artist’s schedule along with assisting in various personal matters.
The personal manager is the one responsible for defining a strategy together with the artist for their success and for protecting, representing, and managing the artist’s relationships with all the players in the music business in line with the defined strategy.
The phonogram is the sound recording of a performance of a musical work, to be more specific the final version of the recording that has been released or will be released to the market.
The phonogram holder is the one who assumes the production costs and who benefits from the sale of physical records. Production costs include licences for the mechanical reproduction of musical works, layout, product design, and the manufacturing of copies, whose unit cost depends on the quality and quantity of units produced.
The phonogram producer is the first owner of the phonogram and is by default the one who has put the money and/or provided the necessary economic resources from the beginning until the final version of the entire recording process.
The physical distributor is the one who stores and distributes CDs, vinyls to various online and physical stores.
Private copy refers to all the copies made by individuals for personal use of legally acquired protected material.
PRO o Performing Rights Organisation is a type of CMO, specialised only in public performance.
The public domain consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply.
Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds the exclusive rights, anyone can legally use or reference those works without permission.
Public performance takes place any time music can be heard in that space without having a physical copy of it.
The record label owns the exploitation rights of the phonogram and the music video, thus generating business around both. Among other things, it handles the digital exploitation of streaming, downloads, production and sale of physical products (CDs, vinyl), and sync licences for audiovisuals and other products. The record label invests the most in developing artists and promoting them.
The right of attribution is a non-economic rights allowing the author to be recognised as the original creator of the musical work.
Social networks are platforms that allow their users to post text, image, audio, or video content. In the case of audio or video content, it might contain music.
The sound engineer is the person who has the knowledge and operates all the devices and programs related to sound, and this person usually specialises in one of the three processes mentioned before: recording, mixing, and mastering. In some cases, the sound engineer for the recording is also the music producer, but not necessarily.
The sound technician is the one who is in charge of the sound mixing of the musical performance.