A sound recording is the actual final recording of a song, a fixation of sound. It often goes by the name of ‘master’ from the old ‘master tape’ expression. The authors are the performing artist and record producer, who in essence are therefore the owners. Producers typically get a small share of the master rights (up to 12.5%). However, recordings are typically made in assignment of record labels, whom have negotiated deals with both the artist and producer in which they transfer ownership of their copyright to the label in exchange for royalty payments.
Also, it’s increasingly more common and easy for performing artists to record independently. In these cases, the master ownership belongs to just them, or them together with the producer.
Royalty payments to performing artists are called artist royalties. Royalty payments to producers are called producer royalties.
Now that you know about the two different types of musical copyright, it is important that you grasp the difference between the ‘writers’ of a track and the owners of the actual ‘master recording’. The composition, made by the writers, is typically represented by a publisher. The sound recording, made by the performing artist and producer, is typically represented by a label.