This article gives general information about French law. It is not a substitute for legal advice tailored to your situation, which a lawyer specialising in intellectual property can provide.
Three families of rights in one track
When you release a track, several people hold different rights in what you hear:
- authors and composers hold copyright (droit d'auteur) in the work (melody, lyrics, harmony);
- performers hold neighbouring rights in their performance;
- the phonogram producer holds neighbouring rights in the recording itself, often called the "master".
One person can hold several of these roles: an artist who writes, sings and pays for their own recording is author, performer and producer at once.
Copyright in the work
The French Intellectual Property Code (CPI) protects works of the mind simply by virtue of their creation, with no registration formality (Article L.111-1). The author has moral rights (attribution, integrity), which are perpetual and inalienable, and economic rights (reproduction, performance) that last for their lifetime plus 70 years (Article L.123-1).
In practice, many authors and composers entrust some rights to a collective management organisation such as Sacem, which collects and distributes royalties from the use of their works.
Performers' rights
Performers have a moral right in their performance and an economic right: fixing, reproducing and communicating their performance to the public require their written authorisation (Article L.212-3 CPI). This is why a session musician normally signs a document stating what they authorise and for what fee.
Organisations such as Adami or Spedidam manage certain performers' rights, including the equitable remuneration due when recordings are broadcast on radio or played in public places.
Phonogram producer rights
Under Article L.213-1 CPI, the phonogram producer is "the natural or legal person who takes the initiative and responsibility for the first fixation of a sequence of sounds". Their authorisation is required to reproduce the recording, make it available to the public, sell, exchange or rent it.
These rights generally last 50 years from fixation, extended to 70 years from publication if the recording is published within that period (Article L.211-4). Producers can join a management organisation such as SCPP or SPPF.
Who is the producer when you record in a studio?
This is the key question. The producer is not necessarily the person at the console: it is whoever takes the initiative for the recording and bears responsibility for it, particularly financial. Depending on how the project is organised, this may be the artist, their label, or the studio if the studio itself funds and organises the recording.
To avoid any ambiguity, our practice is simple and set out in our Terms of service: when the studio makes a recording for a client, any producer rights the studio might hold in that recording are assigned in writing to the client once the invoice is paid in full. The client thus becomes the sole owner of the master and can exploit it freely, subject to the rights of authors and performers.
Good practice before a session
- Agree in writing who is producing: the artist, a label, a production company.
- Have guest musicians sign: authorisation to fix and exploit, fee, credits.
- Plan for co-writing: if an arranger or producer contributes to the composition, agree everyone's share before release.
- Check samples: an excerpt from an existing recording needs permission from its producer and from the rights holders of the work.
- Keep your paperwork: quotes, invoices, authorisations and assignments are proof of your rights for a distributor or platform.
Credits
Credits (who wrote, played, recorded, mixed, produced) are not the same as ownership of rights, but they matter. They are used by distributors and management organisations and reflect everyone's work. We recommend drawing them up as soon as recording ends, while everyone still remembers who did what.
Key points
- The work, the performance and the recording are protected by separate rights.
- The producer is whoever takes the initiative and responsibility for the recording (CPI L.213-1).
- With us, producer rights are assigned in writing to the client after full payment.
- Have guest musicians sign and clear samples before release.
