No. 23Rights & Licenses
Master Recording Rights
Also called masters, master ownership, sound recording copyright
Who owns the actual recorded version of your music, one of the most valuable assets in music.
High risk
Label ownership of masters is the norm, but reversion and licence structures can achieve similar commercial outcomes while preserving eventual artist ownership.
- Appears in
- Recording Agreement, 360 Deal, Distribution Agreement
- Topic
- Ownership & Copyright
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- Reviewed
- July 2026
In plain English
Master recording rights (or 'masters') refer to ownership of the specific recorded version of a song. This is separate from the underlying song copyright. Whoever owns the masters controls how the recording is used, licensed, and sold. Traditionally labels own masters; artist-owned masters have become a growing demand and a marketing talking point.
Why it matters
Owning your masters means controlling your catalogue's future. It allows you to license recordings directly, negotiate with streaming platforms, and sell or retain your catalogue at full value. Not owning your masters means any exploitation requires the label's consent.
Where it can land
The same clause is drafted three ways. These are the positions we see, worst first, so you can tell at a glance which one is in front of you.
- Label owns masters in perpetuity with no reversion
- Artist cannot purchase masters at the end of the deal
- No audit rights on income from master licences
- Masters revert after a long period (10+ years)
- Artist has right of first refusal to purchase masters at market value only
- Masters revert to artist at end of term or after a defined number of years
- Artist has right to purchase masters at cost (recording budget) rather than market value
- Licence structure rather than assignment, artist always retains title
The language
The drafting language and the negotiation moves for this clause are part of the workspace.
You have read what the clause means and where the risk sits. The rest is the side-by-side of how it reads when it is against you and when it is not, plus the specific moves that get it there.