Quote:
Originally posted by AALIYAH DANA
How do Madonna and Mariah not own their masters when they wrote all of there hits and albums. Also, can you explain what a masters is and how you can acquire it  |
A master is the actual original recording of a song.
When an artist like Mariah recorded her music in the 90s, Sony owned the masters.
Sony could license her songs for movies, commercial... without Mariah's authorization but Mariah couldn't use her own music without their authorization.
That is why Mariah was furious when she promoted MerryChristmas2U on HSN because Sony refused to allow her to use the AIWFC is you music video for the infomercial.
Mariah would get pay publishing rights when Sony used her material but she had no say about how and where it was used.
Moreover, the REAL money in recording music is in the masters. And artist would get 15% of the revenues. Another 15% from publishing. But if you own the master, you can get upward of 80% of the revenue from your music.
In Prince's case. he wanted to release 4 albums per year. But because his label owned his masters, they blocked the release of his music and limited it to once a year. They didn't want him to be over-exposed, that his was he started writing
SLAVE on his cheek.
That is why record label can control which song is a single, which video they release.... If Ke$ha owned her masters, she would be able to release new music. But since Dr Luke own her master, he can block her from releasing any new music.
When you don;t own a masters, you're an employee.
When you own your masters, you the boss.
