How to Buy the Rights to a Song (and What You Actually Get)

People who search for how to buy the rights to a song usually want one of two things: to use a song in a video, advert or film, or to own part of a song. The paths are different, and so are the prices.

Can you buy the rights to a song?

Yes. You can license a song, buy a share of its master, buy its copyright outright or commission a new one. What you actually need depends on your goal:

What are the two rights in every song?

A recorded song is two works. The composition is the melody, harmony and lyrics. It belongs to the songwriter and, usually, a music publisher, and in the EU and the UK it lasts for the author's life plus 70 years (in the US the same for works created since 1978). The master is one specific recording of that composition. It belongs to whoever paid for and produced it, usually a label or the artist, and in the EU and the UK it is protected for 70 years from release.

That split is why "buying the rights" so often fails: someone licenses the song from the publisher and then discovers they also need the label's permission for the recording, or the other way round. It is also why a public-domain piece is not automatically free. Beethoven's Fifth is free as a composition, but every orchestra's recording of it is still protected; see royalty-free vs copyright-free vs public domain.

How do you buy the rights to use a song?

For most people, "buying the rights" means a licence. You do not own the song afterwards; you get permission to use it for agreed purposes.

1. Identify both owners. Search the composition in the collecting societies' repertoire databases (ASCAP and BMI Songview in the US, PRS in the UK, GEMA in Germany) to find the publisher. Find the master owner from the label credited on the release, then Discogs or MusicBrainz.
2. Describe your use precisely. Media (online, TV, cinema), territory, duration, how long the music runs, and whether it is an advert. Every one of these changes the price.
3. Request a quote from both sides. The publisher issues the sync licence, the label the master use licence. Expect weeks, not days, and a fee that starts in the hundreds for small online uses and can reach six figures for a national TV campaign; see what a sync licence costs.
4. Get it in writing and keep it. The licence document is your proof if a platform or a client asks.

The shortcut is a catalogue where one rights holder controls both the composition and the recording. At Artyfile you choose a track, pay €29.90 once and download the WAV with a licence certificate: worldwide, without an expiry date, client work included, with no additional collection-society fee on the licence. If a track has to be yours alone, there is an exclusive licence.

How do you buy a share of a song's master?

You buy a percentage of the master recording and the right to a matching share of what it earns. This has become a market of its own: royalty marketplaces auction the income streams of existing catalogues, and some artists sell shares directly.

At Artyfile this is the Limited Edition: a numbered 1% share of a specific master for €69.90, up to 10% per buyer and at most 20 shares per master. Each share is entered in the Artyfile ownership register and documented with a personal certificate, and it includes the same worldwide, perpetual usage licence as the Basic licence, so you can use the track in your own videos. You receive a share of the recording's streaming and licensing revenue each quarter. That share of revenue is not guaranteed and can be zero; it depends entirely on how much the track is streamed and licensed. Details are on the Limited Edition page.

Can you buy the full copyright of a song?

Yes in the US and the UK, by written assignment; in Germany only partly.

• US: a copyright transfer must be in writing and signed by the owner. Songwriters can terminate many transfers after 35 years, which matters if you are paying for "forever".
• UK: copyright can be assigned in writing, for the composition and for the recording.
• Germany: the author's copyright itself cannot be sold. Under section 29 of the Copyright Act it can only be inherited; a buyer instead receives exclusive exploitation rights (Nutzungsrechte), which can be very broad. The producer's right in a sound recording (section 85) is transferable.

Full buyouts of well-known songs run from the high thousands into millions and need a music lawyer on both sides. For a song that is not famous, it is usually cheaper and simpler to commission a new one.

What about commissioning a song?

A commission gives you a song nobody else has. In the US the contract can make it a work made for hire or assign the copyright; in Germany you agree exclusive exploitation rights for the uses you need. Artyfile composes to picture and to brief; see custom music.

Bottom line

Decide first whether you want to use a song or own part of it. To use one, you need both the composition and the master licence, and the fastest route is a catalogue that holds both: €29.90 once at Artyfile. To own part of a recording, a numbered master share costs €69.90 and includes the same licence. A full copyright purchase or a commission is a negotiated contract.