Intellectual property

Music

Musical creation is a demanding process that mobilizes significant human, material and financial resources. Beyond the general rules of copyright law, the music industry follows customs of its own, such as advances recouped through an assignment of SACEM receivables, which you need to understand to negotiate well.

MOSAIK advises authors, composers, performers, producers and publishers in protecting and negotiating their interests.

Your contracts, negotiated with full knowledge

The firm drafts, reviews and negotiates the full range of industry contracts:

  • copyright assignment and music publishing agreements;
  • assignments of tapes, masters and neighboring rights;
  • band agreements and publishing preference agreements;
  • assignments of audiovisual adaptation rights;
  • sub-publishing agreements;
  • agent and manager agreements;
  • catalogue administration agreements;
  • distribution and synchronization agreements.

The clauses that make the difference

Two families of clauses concentrate most of the financial stakes:

  • advance clauses, recoupable or not, recoverable or not: they govern how amounts advanced by the producer or publisher are repaid, often through direct deduction from the author's royalties until full recoupment;
  • royalty accounting clauses: they set the frequency and content of exploitation statements, and determine your ability to monitor the amounts owed to you and whether your works are actually being exploited.

MOSAIK helps you negotiate these clauses before signing, then enforce them throughout the life of the contract.

Collective management organizations

Much of the management of your rights runs through collective management organizations: SACEM and SDRM for authors, composers and publishers, ADAMI and SPEDIDAM for performers, and SCPP and SPPF for producers, among others. MOSAIK assists you in your dealings with these bodies: membership, registrations, distributions, challenges.

Defending your rights

If your rights are infringed or a third party raises a claim, the firm deploys the appropriate response, calibrated to the urgency and the stakes:

  • formal demand letters, to put the situation on record and require action;
  • reports by a commissaire de justice (French judicial officer), to lock in evidence of the facts;
  • saisie-contrefaçon proceedings (court-ordered infringement seizures), to gather evidence for trial;
  • protective measures, to secure the recovery of amounts owed to you;
  • proceedings before the specialized courts, emergency proceedings and payment orders where the situation allows.

This litigation practice feeds our negotiation work: we know what clauses are worth before a court.

Frequently asked questions

What is a recoupable advance?

It is an amount paid upfront by a producer or publisher, then repaid by deduction from your royalties, often through an assignment of your SACEM receivables, until it is fully recouped. The recoupment terms deserve careful reading: they determine when you will start earning income again.

Why check your royalty statements?

The royalty statement is the report detailing how your works are exploited and the amounts owed to you. Checking it lets you verify that the sums paid are accurate, identify the profitable distribution channels and confirm that your counterparty is actually exploiting your works as the contract requires.

Can an artist get out of an unbalanced contract?

It all depends on the contract and the circumstances: breaches by the counterparty, failure to exploit the works, unlawful clauses. MOSAIK analyzes your situation and identifies the available levers, from renegotiation to court-ordered termination.