GET PLAYED, GET PAID
Understanding Neighbouring Rights
A song has two forms of copyright:
1. Underlying musical work or composition – i.e. the
music and the lyric elements (publishing); and
2. The sound recording of a song or composition
(master)
The term ‘neighbouring rights’ is used in some
countries to refer to the public performance, broadcast,
communication and reproduction rights in sound
recordings. Literally, neighbouring rights sit besides, or
‘neighbour’ the composition copyright of a work.
Public performance rights – similar to broadcast,
communication or reproduction rights – are controlled
by the entity that owns copyright in the master
recording. Under New Zealand law, the default position
is that the owner of copyright in a sound recording is
the person who made the “arrangements necessary for
the making of the recording”, usually the person who
paid for the studio time and other costs associated with
making the recording. This could be a record company
or a self-releasing artist. The default position can be
changed by written agreement, for example two artists
in a band might agree in writing that they jointly own
copyright in the recording even if only one of them
paid the studio costs. Recorded Music NZ refers to this
copyright owner as the Master Rights Holder.
Income sources for neighbouring rights include the
public performance of music used at or broadcast/
communication via:
• online radio and terrestrial radio e.g. AM/FM radio
(excluding in the US, more on that below)
• broadcast media e.g. television
• digital and online
• music in business and the community
In NZ there is no right for individual performers to
receive remuneration as such (unless they are also
master rights holders – see above). However, Recorded
Music NZ operates a scheme (the Direct to Recording
Artist Scheme) under which featured artists based in NZ
14 • NZ MUSIC COMMISSION MAY BOOK 2020
may have a claim to receive some of this income directly
(more on featured artists below).
NEIGHBOURING RIGHTS IN NEW ZEALAND
Neighbouring rights are not uniform throughout the
world. Neighbouring rights tend to vary much more
widely in scope between different countries than
songwriters’ and composers’ rights.
In New Zealand, these royalties are collected by
ourselves, Recorded Music NZ, or the relevant rights
holder directly. Recorded Music NZ distributes funds
collected from:
• Public performance via OneMusic New Zealand
With OneMusic New Zealand, the licensing process
for businesses using music has gone from two
licences for the two rights from two organisations
(APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ) to one
licence from OneMusic New Zealand.
• Broadcast licences with TV and radio (free to air,
public, community and subscription)
• Certain communication licences with digital
services (e.g., free to air TV catch up, commercial
radio simulcasts, or other online radio services)
After the deduction of administration and operational
costs, all fees collected are distributed through to
Recorded Music NZ Master Rights Holders and featured
NZ recording artists registered with Recorded Music NZ
via its Direct-to-Recording Artist Distribution Scheme.
HOW TO GET PAID BY RECORDED MUSIC NZ FOR
YOUR SOUND RECORDINGS BEING PLAYED
If you are a New Zealand recording artist and/or if you
control the rights to your sound recordings, make sure
you register with Recorded Music NZ now.
If you own the copyright in your recordings (see above),
you would sign up to Recorded Music NZ as a Master
Rights Holder. If you are a NZ citizen or resident, and a
@RECORDEDMUSICNZ
RECORDEDMUSICNZ