Page 53 - ION Indie Magazine JULYAUG 2024

Orphaned Royalties

As a result of the lack of registrations at the Library of Congress for

Copyright, often when creators release music, there are those who
take music ideas by adding a variance to the title, changing some
lyrics, perhaps the key signature, and finally, with either plus or minus

14 seconds, re-release other artist’s creations -- which are then
registered properly and licensed around the world without the original
creator’s knowledge.

Consequently, the party that did register properly is the first one to
add copyright to a song they didn’t pen -- similar to Pharrell Williams’
$7 million dollar case with Marvin Gaye over “Blurred Lines.” During

an interview with Producer Rick Rubin on YouTube, Williams admits
(while under oath) to “reverse engineering” music.” Pharrell states he
“places found music in a DAW (digital audio workstation), re-performs

the different elements that make up that song, not only for the chord
structure, but for “THE FEEL” of the song.

Each year, our music royalties get licensed all over the world by the

PRO’s, and if your songs are not registered properly, they become
lost, and quite simply, the PRO’s will either absorb your royalties fully
in the “THREE YEAR RULE,” or some end up in the newly formed

January 1, 2021 MLC (Mechanical Licensing Collective) in Nashville
to the tune of over $2.5 Billions dollars of Orphaned Royalties. The
legal definition of “orphaned” according to Websters, is “a child

deprived by death of one or usually both parents.” Most current
“Orphaned Royalties” are generated because artists don’t take the
time to register their music correctly, which ultimately lines the same

pockets of the top tier record/publishing companies and the PROs. I
don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sit well with me. In my opinion,
the PROs should give the opportunity for creators to identify their

music by adding it to a publicly posted list to see if any of their song
titles show up. The problem is, PROs don’t take an audio sample of
your song, so even if you find what looks like your title, it doesn’t

automatically mean they are your lost royalties.