Who holds the sales rights of a remix?

[Cupe]

The story is this:

I approached a guy about his song to ask if I could remix it. He sent me the stems, I did the remix, and uploaded it to soundcloud (not downloadable).

Now the guy is selling the track on Amazon without having told me.

http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Under-Stars ... B00IRXAU9I

Do I have percentage rights to sales? Does he have 100% rights because the original was his? Do I have 100% because the remix is entirely my work?

What's the deal here?

[eggssell]

you definitely dont have 100%!!

even if you had sampled to make your own track you would have to pay a portion. let alone for a remix.

sorry cupe but i would think it was up to him. he was a bit of a whale to release it without telling you.

tomy would prob be your best bet from a label point of view.

[Cupe]

Yea be interesting to hear what people's experiences have been, and what the actual law dictates.

[russell]

You have no rights.

Did you agreed to do it for nothing?

As it's a remix the copyright lies with him (or a label if it were a label who commissioned you do one).

Generally for a remix an artist will get a flat fee for their work unless a percentage rate was agreed before hand.

[Cupe]

I see, so no-one ever makes a living off remixing someone else.

#life

[eggssell]

i reckon label rules are different than independent

but like russell said, i know the big timers in the hip hop world get paid an upfront one off fee to do a remix, so no trail royalties.

so if you "good" enough then sure you can make money. and by good i mean pursued enough.

with independents as there is no guarantee in any cash flow i assume thye would offer a royalty system. but yeh i guess next time square it up beforehand

[Cupe]

I don't really care that much, no-one is going to buy it.

It was just weird when I was googling and came across it like da fuck

[Kodiak]

Make your soundcloud downloadable

[Cupe]

I don't have any of my original productions as downloadable.

But for the sake of someone making money off my work without telling me, I'll adjust the settings for that track.

[russell]

i reckon label rules are different than independent

not really. As soon as you make something you control the copyright of the song (the actual musical idea involved in it) and also the copyright of the recording which is a separate right.

If a label signs your track it will give you a contract which states you are handing over control of the copyright of the recording to them.

This will of course be different if your a band and a label signs you and pays for the production of an album or whatever. The label will automatically own the recording copyright but the copyright of the song remains with the artist(s).

[LabRat]

I'll share my experience.

I remixed a track for release a while ago and from the contract I had, I did get commission for it. I can't remember the percentages and I don't have the contract to check but it was something like this

Distribution takes 40% label takes 60%

Label then took 60% of that and then the remaining 40% got divided between the representing parties who contributed to the track, so in my case, the remainder got split between the artist and myself.

Other labels could be very different but you do retain the rights of the remix and get commission from it. The original artist also gets a cut from your sales

[Cupe]

There's no label involved in this.

I just remixed a guys song and he put it on Amazon for sale.

[russell]

you do retain the rights of the remix and get commission from it.

That's not true though. You may well get a commission if that was what the contract agreement specified, but you do not retain the copyright for a remix. That lies with the label

Cupe, you should chin the guy and say you want a cut of any sales of your remix. See what he says.

[LabRat]

You don't have any rights when signing over an original.

I should have said if you sign anything to a label, all you have are naming rights, to where you get commission from anything with your name on it, including a remix.

[eggssell]

i reckon label rules are different than independent

not really. As soon as you make something you control the copyright of the song (the actual musical idea involved in it) and also the copyright of the recording which is a separate right.

If a label signs your track it will give you a contract which states you are handing over control of the copyright of the recording to them.

This will of course be different if your a band and a label signs you and pays for the production of an album or whatever. The label will automatically own the recording copyright but the copyright of the song remains with the artist(s).

oh yeh I didn't mean the rules of copyright are different. I meant practices will be different.

i.e. labels may be willing to pay an upfront one off fee and wear the risk of a flop, but an independent would be disinclined to pay an upfront fee because of the risk of no cash flow.

[russell]

[Tomy]

In your situation cupe you'll get zero but with any luck some exposure

and to clear stuff up on the label side standard is usually as follows...

Remix Artist 50%

Original artist 25%

Label 25%

those % are of net profit which means thats the profit left after disto and all the stores have taken there share.

[Cupe]

Yea I was never really hoping for money anyway, so it's not a big deal.

Remixing tracks has given me loads of plays if it's from someone that already gets plays.

Works so far, that Dirk Maassen remix has over 5700 plays, but it was agreed before-hand that I'd get 50% of sales :3

[Tomy]

well if you agreed to it, just ask him. no harm in asking. you never know you might make a few dollars

[Cupe]

I'd rather the rep and the world gets to hear my music.

[Tomy]

boom! thats the way to be man.

[Cupe]

Just did another remix for another Pianist/composer.

He approached me this time, cause of my soundcloud bio saying I want to work with more classical composers.

Just finished it and uploaded.

No idea what is meant to happen with this one, will see I guess.