Legal Question in Entertainment Law in New York
I am a pop/hip hop music Producer. Another major record label wants to use one of my tracks, but they want to take what I have done and give it to one of their producers to refine and hence co-produce. Because the track has a sample that they are not sure if it is going to get cleared, so before they will give me a producer declaration or agreement, they want to record the song with the artist, then try to clear it. So essentially they are demo -ing the song. If I give their producer the session files and the composition that I came up with, do I maintain the rights to the music? Does the new co-producer now have rights to my composition because I have agreed to let him co-produce the track?
2 Answers from Attorneys
I know you probably don't want to read this but before you provide anything to a third party there should be an agreement in place, especially if you haven't secuured a copyriight registration for your work.Depending upon the sample, clearance shouldn't be a major problem and if they're going to the time and expense (and risk of wasting them) of having the artist record the song, they can certainly provide you with a simple agreement that gives them the limited right to record the song only as an internal demo, have a limited time to clear the sample and agree not to use any part of your work for commercial purposes without first obtaining your written consent (whiich you'd provide only if you got an acceptable offer).
The short answer is do not provide any of your work to the record label without having a contract in place. This is vital since you have not copyrighted the material. I would also recommend engageing a competent entertainment attorney to protect your rights and interests.
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