Music Industry Terminology


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Terms A - Z

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

A&R (Artists and Repertoire)
Title of designated person or group of persons who seeks out and signs new acts to a record label.

AC
Abbreviation for the adult contemporary radio format.

Advance
A loan made usually from a record label to an artist that is to be repaid (recouped) from record sales. In the case of a publishing advance, the advance would be recouped from publishing royalties.

AFM (AF of M)
American Federation of Musicians. The musicians' union. Sets minimum wages and working conditions for American artists. The majority of performance contracts are drawn up using the AF of M standard contract format. AFM also provides services to its members such as health insurance, legal aid, etc.

AFTRA
American Federation of Television and Radio artists. The union that represents artists on radio and television.

Aggregator (digital)
Digital aggregators supply music downloads from labels and artists to online retailers such as iTunes, Napster etc.

AIM
The Association of Independent Music Is the UK record industry trade organization for independent labels.

AIMS
Alliance of Independent Media Stores. A national coalition of independent record stores.

ARIA
Australian Record Industry Association. ARIA operates much like the RIAA, in that it represents the interests of various music industry members, largely including labels. They have been closely affiliated with the fight agains copyright violation in illegal filesharing.

ASCAP
American Society of Composers, Authors, and 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 intertational societies, ASCAP also represents hundreds of thousands of music creators worldwide. ASCAP is the only U.S. performing rights organization created and controlled by composers, songwriters and music publishers, with a Board of Directors elected by and from the membership. ASCAP protects the rights of its members by licensing and distributing royalties for the non-dramatic public performances of their copyrighted works.

ADI
ADI or Area of Dominant Influence is the geographic area or market reached by a radio or television station. It is used by advertisers and rating companies to determine the potential audience of a station.

Adds
Also known as add-ons. Songs or albums added to a radio stations' playlist.

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B

B2B
Business -to-business, A resource for one business to another, inter or intra industry.

Blanket License
A license issued by a performing rights society that authorizes the public performance of all the songs in the society's catalog.

BMI
American performing rights organization who collects license fees on behalf of those American creators it represents and disperses royalties.

Broadband
A data transmission where multiple pieces of data are sent simultaneiously to increase the effective rate of transmission. Most commonly refers to high speed internet.

Business Manager
A representative who aids the musician with financial planning, investment decisions, tax matters, monitoring of contract income, estate planning and other financial matters.

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C

Call Letters
Most often a 4 letter combination of letters that identify a particular radio station. Those beginning with the letter K are located in the western half and those starting with W are in the east.

Chargebacks
Expenses charged by a record label against artist royalties.

CHR
Abbreviation for the contemporary hits radio format also known as top 40 or pop music radio.

Compulsory License
Also referred to as a statutory license. According to law, a license to use content under reasonably and non discriminatory terms, defined by act of Congress. For example, radio broadcasters need a license to play music published through ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. They don't need to obtain permission from the copyright holders to play a song but must pay usage fees to the copyright holders based on how often a particular song is played.

Compulsory Mechanical License
An exception to the copyright holder's exlusive rights of reproduction and distribution that allows anyone to record and distribute any commercially released, non-dramatic song as long as the mechanical license rates established by copyright law are paid to the copyright owner of the song.

Cover
Performance or recording of a song that has been previously released by another artist.

Copyright
A legal device that provides the owner the right to control how a creative work is used. A copyright is comprised of a number of exclusive rights, including the right to make copies, authorize others to make copies, make derivative copies, sell and market the work and perform the work. Any one of these rights can be sold separately through copyright ownership.

CMJ
College Music Journal. A weekly magazine of and for the music industry and college radio stations in the US and Canada. Publishes top 10 hits submitted by radio stations. Also known for its monthly consumer magazine and the CMJ music Marathon, held annually in New York.

Controlled Composition clause
A contractual clause that allows a deduction from royalties by the record label when songs are written by the artist.

Cross-collateralized
Cross-collateralization allows a record label to recoup an advance for one album against royalties from sales of other albums.

Cut outs
Product titles that have been discontinued by a record label, usually due to poor sales or overstock. Sold at discounted prices, these titles often end up in the discount bins.

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D

Derivative Work
For copyright purposes, a new work based upon an original work to which enough original creative work has been added so that the new work represents and original work of authorship.

Distributor (distribution)
Agents or agencies that are responsible for getting records into the retail marketplace.

DRM
Digital rights management. A term referring to methods used to control or restrict the use of digital media content on electronic devices, such as CDs.

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E

Encoding
The conversion of a sound recording into a digital file format.

Eurochart
Charts tracking the airplay, sales and popularity of various European countries.

Exclusive Rights
In copyright law, the privileges that only a copyright owner has with respect to the copyrighted work.

Exclusivity Clause
A contractual clause in a contract or agreement that prohibits a business relationship with another entity.

Exploit
In music publishing, to seek sources of revenue for a song.

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F

FCC
Federal Communications Commission. Independent US government agency that oversees and regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable.

FTC
Federal Trade Commission. A government agency designed to ensure that markets remain vigorous, efficient and free of restrictions that harm consumers. The FTC also enforces federal consumer protection laws that prevent fraud, deception and unfair business practices, as well as enforce federal antitrust laws.

File-sharing
The activity of making files available to other users for download over the Internet. Fixed in a Tangible Medium of Expression.

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H

Harry Fox Agency (HFA)
Mechanical licensing, collection and distribution agency for US music publishers. Currently represents more than 27,000 music publishers.

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I

IFPI
International Federation of Phonogram and Videogram Producers. European based international recording industry organization whose aim is to implement strategies in anit-piracy enforcement, technology and lobbying of governments.

IMBA


Indie
Independent. Not affiliated with a larger corporate umbrella or ownership.

Intellectual Property
A product of the intellect that has commercial value, including copyrighted property such as literary or artistic works.

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L

Limited Quantity License
Mechanical License issued for production of quantities of less than 2,500 copies.

Limited/Tethered Download
A transmission of time or use-limited download to a local storage device wit the technology only allowing the file to be available for a limited time period or limited number of plays.

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M

Music Publishing


Musical Work


Master Tone
Also called True Tone is a compressed snippet of an actual recorded song used as a mobile phone ringtone.

MD
Music Director. Creates playlists and controls song rotations at a radio station.

Mechanical License
Authorization from a music publisher or songwriter to record and distribute a song. Compare to compulsory mechanical license.

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N

NARM


Neilsen BDS
Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. Collects and detects song airplay data with a digital fingerprinting technology. The data informs many Billboard charts.

Neilsen Soundscan
Information system providing tracking of point-of-purchase sales of music and music videos. It's data is a source for many Billboard charts.

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O

On-Demand Streams
Listen Only. The technology does not allow a complete reproduction of a sound recording to be made on a local storage device.

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P

Payola
Payments of cash, drugs, or expensive gifts given to radio or TV personnel to play an artist's music. Payola is illegal in the U.S.

Per Diem
Money allocated to the artist and each crew member for daily living expenses on the road. Per diems vary by artist.

Per Program License


Performing Rights Society
Organization that grants licenses for performances of a songwriter or publisher's music.

Personal Manager
Performs the function of overseeing an artist's career. Does long-range planning on behalf of the artist.

Piracy
Music piracy is any form of unauthorized duplication and/or distribution of music, including downloading, file sharing and CD burning.

PD
Program Director. In charge of all audio output of a radio station and its personnel. Works closely with the music director.

Print License
Authorization from a music publisher or song writer to reproduce and distribute a song in printed form.

Public Domain
Property rights that are held by the public at large. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge writing, artwork, music, science inventions and others, in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. (Proprietary interest is typically represented by a copyright or patent.) The public have the right to use and reuse works in the public domain without financial or social burden. When copyright or other protections reach the end of their life, works are said to revert to the public domain.

Public Performance or Performance Rights
A public performance is one that occurs "in a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside the normal circle of family and its social acquaintances is gathered". A public performance also occurs when the performance is transmitted by any device or process to the public. In order to perform copyrighted work publicly, the user must obtain performance rights from the copyright owner or his representative.

Publisher
An agent or agency whose primary job is to link up songs by songwriters with suitable recording artists to promote them.

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R

Rackjobber
Sub-distributor or middle man between retail stores and large music and video product distributors.

Record Label


Recording Academy
Formerly NARAS (National Association for Recording Arts & Sciences), the Recording Academy is a music industry trade group that annually stages the Grammy Awards, devoted to celebrating the achievements of musicians, producers, engineers and other behind the scenes contributors.

Release date
This is the day a piced of music is made available for purchase in any form (digital, CD etc.) Tuesday is the typical release day for most product.

Rider
That part of the artist's contract dealing with production requirements and staging for the artist's shows. The rider also details specific food and comfort requirements of the artist.

Rotation
Frequency of radio airplay in a 24 hour period. Many plays per day would be heavy rotation. Few plays would be light rotation.

RIAA
Recording Industry Association of America. Organization intended to protect and shape intellectual property rights for its members. It represents the interests of the commercial music publishing industry and is popularly associated with the fight against music piracy. The RIAA also evaluates US music shipments through it's gold, platinum and diamond certifications.

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S

SESAC
Society of European Stage Authors and Composers. Performing rights organization designed to represent songwriters and publishers and their right to royalties for having their music performed in public.

SXSW
South by Southwest. An annual music conference showcasing musical acts over a 4 day period in Austin, TX. Conference registrants also can attend panel and convention events.

Song hold
The process in which an A&R rep, Manager, or producer claims 'priority' on a song to prevent another artist from recording and releasing it. A typical hold is 90 days, but 30 and 60 day holds are not uncommon.

Sound Recording


Sound Recording Copyright Symbol


Statutory License
See compulsory license.

Statutory Rate
As of Jan 1, 2006 the statutory mechanical rate is 9.10 cents for songs 5 minutes or less or 1.75 cents per minute (or fraction thereof) over 5 minutes. This rate remains in effect until the next schedule of mechanical licensing rates is determined.

Sub-Publisher


Synchronization or "Synch" Rights
Authorization granted by a music publisher, or songwriter to use a song with visual images (such as in a movie or television program).

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T

Talent Agent
The representative who arranges live performances and other employment for a musician. Also know as booking agent.

Technical Rider (Tech Rider)
That part of an artists' contract that details the technical aspects of the artist's production requirements, including equipment, its placement onstage and local personnel needed.

Tip sheet
Newsletter which lists various music opportunities and jobs for sonwriters and composers.

Triple-A
Also known as Adult Album Alternative or AAA. Radio format with a musical selection on the fringes of mainstream popular and roc music, as well as other genres such as alternative rock, alternative country, jazz folk and world music. Also tends to play tracks from lesser known artists.

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