Welsh Music Foundation

A list of some of the more common music business terms and abbreviations. We would like to acknowledge and thank www.bemuso.com for a selection of the definitions below too.  If a word's not here that you think should be, please email hello@welshmusicfoundation.com.

A&R
The department in a record company or music publishing company responsible for selecting, nurturing and developing new creators, artists, songs and records. They work directly with the artists and songwriters in conjunction with managers, producers and musicians.

Advance (contract)
An advance is a loan, normally from a record label to an artist, to be repaid (recouped) from record sales. An advance is for one or more albums depending on the contract. A publisher’s advance would be recouped from publishing royalties.

Aggregator (digital)
Digital aggregators supply music downloads from labels and artists to many (often 20 or more) online retailers, e.g. iTunes, Napster, Real, Yahoo!

AIM
The Association of Independent Music is the UK record industry trade body for independent labels. www.musicindie.com

Aimlabeldata
Aimlabeldata provides information to CatCo for AIM members.

Airplay (royalties)
Broadcasters buy performance licenses from PPL (recordings) and PRS (compositions) for the right to play live and recorded music. Certain larger radio stations (including all BBC stations and the Music Choice Europe network) make full usage returns of all the music they play to PPL and PRS, other use is estimated by selective sampling of plays. License money is shared among members minus the society commission.

APRS
The Association of Professional Recording Services promotes the highest standards of professionalism and quality within the audio industry. Its members are recording studios, post-production houses, mastering, replication and other music facilities and providers of education and training, as well as audio freelance engineers, manufacturers suppliers and consultants. www.aprs.co.uk

ASCAP
The American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers is a membership association of over 240,000 U.S. composers, songwriters, lyricists, and music publishers of every kind of music. Through agreements with affiliated international societies, ASCAP also represents hundreds of thousands of music creators worldwide. www.ascap.com

Assignment (royalties)
Copyright can be assigned to a label or publisher, or a third party such as a royalty collection society for a set period of time. This allows them to act on behalf the copyright owner to issue licenses and collect royalties within the terms of the assignment.

BACS
The British Academy of Composers & Songwriters are a membership organisation set up to represent the voice of its members to Government. Members can take advantage of specialist advice, workshops and support services. www.britishacademy.com

Band Contracts
A band partnership agreement spells out the rights of individual band members and how they get paid. If there is no band contract, anything not owned by individuals is liable to be shared equally between the members. Unequal shares must be formalised.

Barcodes (CDs)
A bar-code is a machine readable number (e.g. UPC code) used for various purposes in manufacture, retail and commercial use of a CD. Bar-codes don’t just identify CDs at the counter, they are also used for chart returns. Some distributors and retailers insist on bar-coding.

BCC
British Copyright Control represents those who create, or hold rights in, literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, and those who perform such works. www.britishcopyright.org.uk

Blank Media Levy
Some countries impose a tax on CD-R, cassette, other blank media and players to compensate for supposed illicit copying. In the EU there are blank media levies in Germany, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Austria, Belgium and Greece. Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus and Malta plan to implement levies, or have recently done so. There are also blank media levies in Canada and some other non-EU countries.

Blanket License
A licence (usually granted by a collecting society) that gives an organisation (for example the BBC) authorisation to use all of the recordings or songs that are owned or controlled by the collecting society in a specified way.

BMI
Broadcast Music Incorporated is an American performing rights organization that represents more than 300,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music. www.bmi.com

BMR
British Music Rights is an umbrella organisation which represents the interests of composers, songwriters and music publishers. Formed in 1996 by the British Academy of Composers & Songwriters, the Music Publishers Association (MPA), the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS), BMR provide a consensus voice promoting the interests of creators and publishers of music at all levels. www.bmr.org

BPI
The British Phonographic Industry is the UK record industry trade body for major labels and large independents. www.bpi.co.uk

Business Eye
Business Eye is a free, impartial information service for Wales created to find the answer to business questions. Whether you are an established company, a new idea, a sole trader or an employer of hundreds, Business Eye can put you in contact with support from the public, private or voluntary sectors. http://www.businesseye.org.uk/index.html

Business In Focus
Business In Focus is one of Wales’ leading providers of comprehensive business support services. It is dedicated to enabling small and medium sized enterprises either to get off to a flying start or, once established, to grow and develop into sustainable and flourishing businesses. www.businessinfocus.co.uk

CAE
Compositeur Auteur Editeur is the most common global identification code for writers.

CatCo
CatCo is an electronic system that sends details of recordings from record labels to PPL and MCPS. CatCo is owned by PPL and free to PPL members. www.catcouk.com

Clearance (copyright)
For the right to use music in some circumstances it must be cleared with the copyright owners. Clearance is needed for copying, not just for commercial use. It is normally negotiated through licensing and collection societies, but may be through labels and publishers.

CMW
Community Music Wales is an umbrella body for community music in Wales which provides trained and experienced community tutors, equipment, advice and support to give people the opportunity to write, play, record or perform their own music. www.communitymusicwales.org.uk

Collection societies
Collection societies issue licenses to music users and share the license fees among copyright owners (normally record labels, publishers, writers and performers).

Companies
People are legal entities: they can be taxed and sued. Companies (including legal partnerships etc.) have similar status. You don’t have to set up a legal company to start a record label or publishing company but you may need to start one later depending on your circumstances.

Compulsory license (USA)
This applies in the USA, not the UK. When a song is published in the USA anyone can cover it. It’s a mechanical license.

Controlled composition
A composition that is written, co-written, owned or controlled by a recording artist under an exclusive recording agreement.

Copyleft
Copyleft is a copyright license that attempts to distribute material under public domain conditions while ensuring future changes are available to everybody in the same way. The main conditions are free distribution, credit for the originators and the same license for onward development. It was originally developed for software, then used more widely for other creative content on the web. A reversed copyright symbol is sometimes used to identify copyleft, but copyleft isn’t the opposite of copyright. The copyleft symbol has no legal meaning.

Copy-protection (CD)
Major record labels use a number of different (so-called) copy-protection techniques for certain releases. These are formatted in a non-standard way to stop them playing normally in PCs.

Copyright
Music copyright gives content creators and owners legal backing for certain restrictions on copying.

Copyright control
Copyright control means copyright is retained by the writer and not assigned to a third party.

Creative Business Wales
Previously known at the Hub, Creative Business Wales is a department within the Welsh Assembly Government that looks after the needs of creative industries in Wales.

Creative Commons
Creative Commons use a range of share-alike copyright licences to package the ideas of copyleft for (mainly Internet) creative content. It’s important to understand that a free distribution license is permanent and cannot be revoked. A symbol with two Cs is often used for Creative Commons, but the proper legal shorthand is the normal copyright symbol.

Covers (copyright)
Anyone can cover another writer’s work, under the terms of PRS or MCPS assignments where they exist. Under these blanket licenses the writer is paid mechanical and performance income. If the work is not assigned to MCPS or PRS the cover should be cleared through the publisher.

Creative and Cultural Skills
Creative & Cultural Skills is the Sector Skills Council for Advertising, Crafts, Cultural heritage, Design, Music, Performing, Literary and Visual Arts. They are an industry-led organisation promising to have real influence over the supply of education and skills across the UK.
http://www.ccskills.org.uk/

Cross-collaterise
Cross-collateralisation means a label can recover (recoup) an advance on one album from sales on other albums. Generally, all your advances and royalties with one label will be in one pot.

Deductions (contract)
Deductions or discounts reduce the effective royalty rate. The headline rate in a contract can be substantially reduced by clauses about other territories, music formats, etc. Any reductions extend recoupment (which puts back the date when the label owes the artist money).

Digipak
Digipak is a proprietary range of CD (and DVD) packaging.

Distribution (Digital)
Digital distribution means “moving music files electronically”. It normally refers to the online equivalent of traditional distribution (shifting downloads instead of CDs). See aggregator.

Distribution (CD)
Traditional distribution is about moving CDs (or other physical recordings) from record labels to retailers. Distributors do more than carry boxes of CDs, they also promote and invest in releases.

DRM
Digital Rights Management is a kind of copy-protection. It is a hardware or software device that forces users to comply with copyright owners’ conditions.

Duplication (CD)
Standard CDs are pressed. Some duplicators (or replicators) burn CD-Rs and these copies are cheaper but less reliable.

EAN
European Article Numbering codes can be used for bar-codes in Europe. UPC codes are used in the USA and Europe.

Exclusive (contract)
Exclusive means that something can only be done by some people. It’s a contractual term that normally ties an artist to one record label.

Fair use (copyright)
Fair use is a non-UK music copyright term. In certain countries (USA, Canada, Germany, Belgium, and others) CD buyers are allowed to make a number of copies for personal use.

Fair Dealing
The UK (Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988) term for certain exceptions to copyright law. These don’t include the equivalent of personal (fair use) copies.

Film Music
Music and recordings for film can be licensed from publishers and record labels. Unlike licenses for normal broadcasting or performance, rates for these master use and sync licenses are not fixed, so film (video, advert, etc.) makers negotiate a price. Library and catalogue music providers offer ready-made, pre-cleared recordings for a wide range of video (and other) applications. These catalogues are normally licensed through PPL, PRS and MCPS.

Finger print (digital)
Fingerprinting is a way of recognising digital files by patterns in their data. The fingerprint is a short code, which can be read by special software to reliably identify the title and other details of a particular track. Fingerprinting is sometimes (erroneously) called watermarking.


First use (USA)
This applies in the USA, not the UK. Because of compulsory mechanical licensing, first use has a special meaning in the USA.

FLAC
Ogg Free Lossless Audio Codec is a popular music file format used for downloading and digital music players. It’s called lossless because unlike MP3 the files can be played back at the original quality. The files are about half the original size. Ogg FLAC is a Xiph.org open standard.

HDCD
A Microsoft music disc format compatible with CD players.

IFPI
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry is the international trade body for major labels and large independents. www.ifpi.com

Independent
Independent normally means record labels that are not majors.

Indie
Indie is a broad term with many general meanings. It refers to independent record labels, several ways of doing business, various styles of music and a number of philosophies.

ISRC
International Standard Recording Codes identify recordings (tracks).

ISWC
International Standard Musical Works Codes identify compositions.

JOL
The Joint Online License is a combined license from MCPS and PRS to cover the performance and duplication of tracks online. It is intended for commercial sites like iTunes, not artist sites.

Major
A major record label. The major record labels are the biggest members of record industry trade bodies (e.g. RIAA in America and BPI in the UK). There isn’t a fixed definition—the majors are just the labels that sell most records. The number has got smaller over the years.

Master
The original fully edited and mixed recording of a song by an artist that was previously recorded by someone else.

Master use license
A master use license is a phonographic copyright license to pay recording owners for music used in film, video, or TV soundtracks. There is no fixed fee for master use licenses.

MCPS
The Mechanical Copyright Protection Society issues licenses for copying recordings (see mechanicals) and collects royalties.

Mechanical (royalties)
A mechanical license is a publishing license to pay writers for copies of music that play mechanically. It was originally for piano rolls (punched sheets that worked automatic player pianos) to compensate for lost sheet music royalties. Today mechanicals include CDs, downloads, ringtones, musical toys and MIDI files, and are collected in the UK by MCPS.

MMF
The Music Managers Forum is a membership organisation which gives its members an opportunity to share and learn from eachother and also a voice within the industry and to government. www.musicmanagersforum.co.uk


MP3
MP3 is a popular music file format used for downloading and digital music players. File sizes are generally about a tenth of the original size. MP3 was invented in 1987 and available publicly from 1995. MP3 is an MPEG standard.

MPA
The Music Publishers Association looks after the interest of all music publishers based or working in the UK and exists to safeguard and improve the business and legal environment within which its members are operating. www.mpaonline.org.uk

Musicians’ Union
The Musicians' Union represents over thirty thousand musicians working in all sectors of the music business. As well as negotiating on behalf of their members with all the major employers in the industry, the MU offer a range of services for professional and student musicians of all ages. www.musiciansunion.org.uk

National Assembly For Wales
The National Assembly is the 60 Assembly Members (AMs) elected by the people of Wales. They meet in a debating chamber in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales.
The National Assembly is responsible for most public expenditure in Wales, and has powers to make a wide range of secondary legislation. The National Assembly does not have tax-raising powers. http://www.wales.gov.uk/index.htm

National Band Register
Advises and helps on the protection of band names – provides a search service to determine whether a band name is currently in use. www.bandreg.com

National Music Council
The National Music Council promotes the interests of the UK music industry as a whole. It facilitates the sharing of information between industry organisations and trade bodies through an annual series of lectures and debates, and provides the means for informing and influencing decision-makers. The NMC is also responsible for major research projects, including statistical research into the economic value of the UK music industry, which is updated every three years. www.musiced.co.uk/nmc.html

Neighbouring rights (copyright)
Neighbouring rights generally refer to recordings rather than copyright in the content itself. The rights of performers and broadcasters to recordings of their work are neighbouring rights.

Nesta
NESTA is the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. It is the largest single endowment devoted exclusively to supporting talent, innovation and creativity in the UK. http://www.nesta.org.uk/

Non-Exclusive Rights
The right to exploit copyright in respect of specific works (e.g. compositions, sound recordings, etc.) on a non-exclusive basis. This could mean that other parties and organisations may also hold the same exploitation rights.

Ogg
Ogg is a container for a range of music file formats used for downloading and digital music players. Ogg is used with FLAC and Speex but normally refers to the lossy codec, Vorbis. File sizes are generally about a tenth of the original size. These Xiph codecs were invented to counter the threat of closed MP3 licensing. Ogg Vorbis is a Xiph.org open standard.

Option (contract)
An option is normally an option to extend the term of a contract but it doesn’t mean everybody has options. Sometimes only the label has the option and it may be automatic.

Overides
See ‘Points’.

P2P
P2P is a way of networking computers over the Internet so they can exchange files directly. It has many legal applications.

PAMRA
The Performing Artists’ Media Rights Association (P@MRA or PAMRA) collect performers’ royalties from PPL and pay artists direct. P@MRA is mainly used by session musicians. www.pamra.org.uk

Performing Right
The exclusive right to perform (live or recorded) a work in public, usually administered on behalf of songwriters, composers and publishers in the UK by the PRS.

Phonographic (copyright)
Phonographic and phonogram are old technical terms for audio recordings. The phonographic copyright gives recording owners rights over the use of their recordings.

Podcast
Podcasts are downloadable audio (or video) shows that you can listen to on your computer, on portable MP3 playing devices or even put onto ordinary audio CDs. The idea is that you subscribe to them, and when a new show is issued it automatically downloads to your machine. They're like a radio show crossed with a magazine subscription.

Points (royalties)
A point is a percentage point (one hundredth, or a penny in the pound). It normally applies to royalties. The total amount (100%) is not always what it appears to be.

PPL
Phonographic Performance Limited issues licenses for playing recordings and collects royalties for record labels. They also distribute performers royalties from recordings. www.ppluk.com

PRS
The Performing Rights Society issues licenses for performing music and collects royalties. www.prs.co.uk

PRSF
Performing Rights Society Foundation is a Registered charity that offers financial awards to organisations that encourage, promote and sustain music creation and it's performance. www.prsf.co.uk

Public Domain
A work that does not qualify for copyright protection (e.g. once the copyright has expired). Public domain works can be exploited by anyone without the need to seek any prior permission.

Publish
Publishing used to refer to the availability of printed sheet music. Today it refers to the public availability of copyright material in any form.

Publisher
A music publisher was originally a company that published sheet music. Recordings are more important in publishing today. Now, publishers invest in writers, promote songs and collect earnings from publishing copyrights.

Publishing Administration
Publishing administration is limited to royalty collection—the publisher will not get additional customers for the compositions. The rate for administration is normally about 10%.

Record Label
A record label was originally a company that made recordings (their company or imprint label was stuck on the centre). Today few if any record labels make records themselves. Now, record labels invest in artists, promote recordings and collect earnings from phonographic copyrights.

Recoup (contract)
To recoup means to pay an advance back to the record label from royalties earned on record sales. Un-recouped artists theoretically owe their record label money and may have to be bought out if they sign with another label.

Red Book
The technical rule book for standard audio CDs is known as the Red Book.

Release
The release of physical (vinyl, cassette, CD) records to radio and retail was always coordinated and formal. The release of a big record was staged like the premiere of a major film. This still happens in the mainstream but the delivery of content on an independent artist’s site is normally much less formal.

Reversion (copyright)
Reversion is when a copyright assignment ends. Assignments are normally limited to a period of time or some other condition depending on the circumstances of the original rights owner.

RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America is the USA record industry trade body.

Royalties
Royalties are fees paid to rights owners (normally record labels, publishers, writers and performers) for the use of their work.

Sampling
The act of digitally copying a portion of one sound recording and reusing it in a new recording. This is done with a sampler, which can be a piece of hardware, or a software application used via a computer. Depending on the length of the sample and how it is used, unauthorised sampling could be held to be an infringement of copyright in the original sound recording from which the sample was taken and the copyright in the original musical work.

SCMS
The Serial Copy Management System stops controlled digital media from being copied on certain machines by setting a marker on new recordings. Recordings with the marker cannot be copied again in these machines. SCMS is part of the Sony/Philips Digital Interface (S/PDIF) format.

Session Musicians
Session musicians are paid a one-off fee (which should not be less than the Musicians’ Union rate) for playing at recording sessions.

Sheet music
Sheet music (notation, fake books, scores, etc.) is where publishing started but it’s not so popular today. Publishers still collect royalties for printed paper and digitised copies of sheet music.

SME (small to medium sized enterprise)
According to the European Commission 2003, a small enterprise is defined by having a headcount <50 and a turnover <10 million euros. A medium-sized enterprise has a headcount <250 and a turnover <50 million euros.

Sound recording
A recording of sounds from which reproductions can be made.

Sub-Publishing
An agreement whereby a publisher grants an oversees publisher the right to exploit, license and collect income for specified works in the foreign publisher’s territory.

Synchronisation
The incorporation of a sound recording into the soundtrack of an audio-visual work, such as a film, television programme or advert.

Sync license
A sync license is a publishing license to pay writers for music used in film, video or TV soundtracks. There is no fixed fee for sync licenses.

Term (contract)
Term means duration; how long something in a contract lasts.

Territory
The geographic area in which a record company or publishing company is contractually permitted to exploit sound recordings and compositions.

Trademark
The legal protection of a trademark is about misuse of the business asset, passing off and confusing potential customers. It isn’t an exclusive right to the trademarked name.

UKPS
UK Performer Services pay airplay royalties to recorded artists and session musicians. www.ppluk.com

UPC
Universal Product Code is the American bar-code number, also used in Europe.

VAT
UK sales tax.

Venue License
Venues buy performance licenses from PPL (recordings) and PRS (compositions) for the right to play live and recorded music. Big venues make complete usage returns of all the music played to PPL and PRS. License money is shared among members minus the society commission.

VPL
Video Performance Limited is the UK collecting society licensing the broadcast and public performance of music videos. www.vpluk.com

Watermark (digital)
Watermarking is a way of recognising digital files by patterns added to their data. The watermark is a code that can be written and read by special software to reliably identify the title and other details of a particular track. Watermarking is sometimes (erroneously) called fingerprinting.

Webcast
A broadcast of a musical or other performance, either pre-recorded or live, over the Internet.

Welsh Assembly Government (WAG)
The National Assembly (see National Assembly for Wales) has delegated its executive powers to nine Cabinet Ministers who together form the Welsh Assembly Government. The Welsh Assembly Government is subject to democratic scrutiny by the National Assembly. http://www.wales.gov.uk/index.htm