Understanding Your Rights & Obligations

If Rights Holders wish for Recorded Music NZ to license their recordings and collect licence fees on their behalf, they must sign a Master Rights Agreement.

Each Master Rights Agreement, among other things, sets out:

• The scope of licence granted to Recorded Music NZ
• The rights and obligations of both Recorded Music NZ and the Master Rights Holder to each other
• The terms applying to various key issues like distribution and cost allocation; as well as
• The extension or clarification of the grant of rights from time to time

Obligations of Registered Rights Holders

Recorded Music NZ relies on the licence granted by Rights Holders, and the information provided by them, to grant licences to third parties and to collect and distribute funds.

Most importantly, in the Master Rights Agreement each Rights Holder:

• Warrants to Recorded Music NZ that it is the owner or licensee of copyright in the relevant sound recordings, and that it has the rights necessary to grant the required licence to Recorded Music NZ;
• Agrees to indemnify Recorded Music NZ in respect of any breaches of this warranty; and
• has an ongoing obligation to provide a range of up-to-date and accurate information to Recorded Music NZ.

This means that Rights Holders are responsible for clearing all rights, including Performers’ Rights associated with their recordings before granting the licence to Recorded Music NZ.

Performers’ Rights

When we use the term Performers, we are generally referring to every person who performs on a sound recording, including featured artists and session musicians. Performers have distinct rights to Recording Rights Holders (i.e. sound recording owners or exclusive licensees).

Recording Rights Holders need to be aware of the rights of performers under the New Zealand Copyright Act, particularly for recordings made on or after 30 December 2018, as at law they must obtain an assignment or consent from any and all performers who perform on any such sound recording.

If an assignment of performers’ rights or an appropriate consent has not been obtained Recorded Music NZ will be unable to licence that recording.

The Aotearoa Registered Artists Scheme

Registered Rights Holders should also be aware of how Recorded Music NZ’s Aotearoa Registered Artists Scheme works. Under the scheme Registered Rights Holders generally grant permission for 50% of the income from recordings featuring Aotearoa Artists to be paid directly to the featured recording artist(s) via their nominated claimant. You can read about this here

How do I get paid by Recorded Music NZ?

Recorded Music NZ distributions are made annually and you need to have your tracks registered via the myRecordedMusic portal by the cut-off date each year in order to receive payment. You can read more about our distribution policy here

What is in the Master Rights Agreement?

Part 1 of the up-to-date version of the Master Rights Agreement (Main Agreement) covers the administrative aspects of our contractual relationship, including:

• The terms and definitions that apply to the Main Agreement as well as many of the Specific Rights Agreements, but not necessarily all of them;
• The key grant of licence to Recorded Music to act on your behalf, including in other areas beyond licensing, such as promotion and advocacy;
• The requirements of supply of information by you to Recorded Music NZ in respect of your sound recordings and music videos;
• Your entitlement to remuneration and the basis upon which that is to be calculated and paid to you i.e. in accordance with Recorded Music NZ’s Distribution Policy; and
• Customary other contractual matters around termination; warranties and indemnities; amendments; limitations of liability and the handling of any unlikely disputes between us.

If new opportunities arise to licence on a blanket/collective basis on your behalf, we will be able to publish a new Specific Rights Agreement which you will be given 20 business days to actively elect to “opt-out” of.

If you opt-out, be aware that it may be for the entire relevant category of licensing. More detail would be provided to you at the relevant time. If you do not respond, you will be deemed to accept the terms and conditions of the new Specific Rights Agreement / Statement of Rights.

To seek physical execution each time and on an ongoing basis is simply impractical.