Clear rights and distribute
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The idea in everyday life
Confirm who owns the composition and recording, obtain contributor agreements, clear samples and artwork, and enter metadata exactly. Compare distributors on current fees, territories, services, takedown terms, support, and payment—not a single promotional claim.
The composition—the music and lyrics—and the sound recording have separate rights. They may have different owners, registrations, and ways of earning money.
One step at a time.
Use the sample or information you have permission to use. Keep your work as you go. You can pause between steps.
- 1
Write down and agree each person’s ownership share of the song and the recording before release work gets busy.
- 2
Clear every sample, beat license, featured performance, artwork, and producer agreement before distribution.
- 3
Prepare legal artist names, songwriter and producer credits, explicit-content status, territories, release date, artwork, lyrics, and identifiers.
- 4
Choose a distributor by current fees, service, support, takedown terms, splits, delivery reach, and rights—not hype alone.
See how it works.
Ari and a co-writer sign a 50/50 split sheet, document producer payment and master ownership, license the cover photo, remove an uncleared movie sample, and proof artist name, titles, explicit flag, writers, and release date before submitting six weeks early.
Did you cover these?
- Composition, master, sample, artwork, and collaborator rights are documented.
- Metadata is consistent across master notes, artwork, distributor, and rights registrations.
- Current distributor and platform requirements are verified at official sources.
What to finish
A release metadata sheet, signed split records, clearance folder, and delivered release with lead time.
Watch for this
Uploading first and trying to resolve ownership, unlicensed samples, or contributor disputes after traction appears.
How can I tell I understand it?
You can explain who owns the composition and master, who must be paid, and where every agreement is stored.
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Go to the knowledge checkOptional course overview video · same video as Lesson 1
Five Essentials for a Home Studio
From Berklee Online. Watch here or open it on YouTube .
The studio setup enables a recording; use the rights checklist to make sure every person and asset involved can legally travel with that recording into distribution.Tools, templates, and lesson sources
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