Licensing, Copyright & Royalties:
Are You Legally Clear To Replicate Your Next Project?
Mirador Access requires proof of licensing for all media manufacturing orders that include cover tunes or previously copy-written material, pre-recorded background music, audio samples etc. Our services comply with the International Recording Media Association’s (IRMA) “Anti-Piracy” compliance policies designed to protect copyright holders here in Canada and abroad.
If you own the “intellectual property rights” (IPR) for the entire contents of your project, then no authorization or licenses will be required in order for you to replicate. If not, you must take the time to secure the owner’s permission, either by purchasing a license from the publisher, or securing some kind of formal “Grant of Rights” by the artist directly.
Types of Licenses:
1. Master Licenses:
The least common and hardest to obtain is a Master License. This allows applicants to pay for the right to include a previously recorded performance of someone else’s material on their album. A good example of this would be for a compilation or “mix” CD.
2. Synchronization Licenses:
A Synchronization License, authorizes the applicant to present music along with other multimedia material such voice-over narration or video. Because of the pairing of music to an idea or image, synchronization licenses are often denied. especially where its proposed use is deemed objectionable by the copyright holder.
3. Mechanical Licenses:
The final, and most common type of license is a Mechanical License. If you have recorded a cover tune of someone else’s music, then you’ll need a mechanical license in order to proceed. This remains true even if you have further adapted the music in some way, say, by composing a custom arrangement of the piece, or using part of the composition as a dominant theme in the music.
Licensing Adminstration Services:
Need help researching and filling out all the paper work? You can hire me to research, complete and submit your license applications or take care of things yourself. The cost for us to research and complete for applications forms depends on the number of songs being licensed and how easily the rights of each track can be verified and licensed. For more information please contact me.
Other Common Licensing Related Links:
CMRRA: The Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Ltd.
The CMRRA is a non-profit music licensing agency, which represents the vast majority of music copyright owners (usually called music publishers) doing business in Canada. http://www.cmrra.ca.
The Copyright Board of Canada:
http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/home-accueil-e.html
SOCAN: Society of Canadian Authors and Music Publishers of Canada
http://www.socan.com
http://www.sodrac.com (French equivalent)
Gracenote:
If you want register your CD so that listeners will be able to automatically pull up song titles, and related information when importing your album into programs like I-Tunes.
http://www.gracenote.com/about/faqs/#upload
