Licensing and Copyrights
| What are performance rights organizations?
These organizations exist to collect and distribute royalties on the behalf of musicians and other audio and video artists for the use of their copyrighted work by others.
Do I have to be connected to a performance rights organization to be able to use Legaldownload?
No, it is not necessary to be connected to a performance rights organization to be able to use Legaldownload's services, as long as you own or control the rights to distribute the music you wish to register at Legaldownload.
How does it work when I am connected to a performance rights organization?
Legaldownload has the right to use, reproduce, transmit, and broadcast music from the world, due to the reciprocity agreements which the Dutch collecting society, BUMA-STEMRA, as with her sister organisations. Legaldownload is BUMA-STEMRA compensation chargeable of 8% per music track and 8% per music album. BUMA-STEMRA ensures that these turnovers arrive at the claimants (publisher, author, composer). The remainig part will obviously be paid to your personal accout.
Is Legaldownload exclusive?
No, your contract with Legaldownload is non-exclusive. Legaldownload does not want to limit you to sell your music through only one legal download service. This means you can sell your music through multiple download services.
What if my content is already being distributed by other retailers (iTunes, Napster etc)?
Your contract with Legaldownload is non- exclusive. So you can sell your music through multiple download services.
What if I am already signed up to an aggregator?
A contract with an aggregation service should not prevent you from selling downloads directly from your own website. You will have to examine your contract in more detail to verify if this is the case.
How about using samples or covers?
If you have any material in your music for which you do not own the copyright (no matter how short it is) you must either obtain a license to use it or you must remove it from your recording.
What is the ISRC?
The ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is the international identification system for sound recordings and music video recordings. Each ISRC is a unique and permanent identifier for a specific recording which can be permanently encoded into a product as its digital fingerprint. Encoded ISRC provide the means to automatically identify recordings for royalty payments. It is not obliged to work with ISRC at Legaldownload.
Do I have to I have an ISRC for the audio content?
For individual track registration Legaldownload does not require an ISRC.
Is Legaldownload music protected by a DRM system??
No, the current security systems do not have the optimal effect yet and in addition we do not want to bother the consumers with all sorts of restrictions.
Do I need to transfer owner rights to Legaldownload?
No, you keep your owner rights. Legally spoken you are the seller of your music. We are just making this possible.
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