(PART 1) AMPA: Direct Payments from SoundExchange for Producers & Engineers

Part One of our series begins with "The Allocation Music Producers Act (“AMPA”). AMPA addresses an age old issue that has existed since the very conception of the music industry: Studio professionals not receiving credit or compensation for their work.

We’ve all read or heard horror stories about producers and artists who never receive compensation for their music. After turning over the masters of their compositions (or after they’ve been taken illegally), abusive record labels or shady artists choose to withhold payment and, oftentimes, credit.

Thankfully, through the advocacy of producers, engineers, and others in the music industry, AMPA creates a way for producers and engineers to receive direct payments from SoundExchange when recordings are used on satellite radio and online radio/streaming services like Spotify or Pandora. AMPA was included in the recent overhaul to the U.S. copyright law when the Music Modernization Act was passed in October 2018.

Through the inclusion of AMPA, this will be the first time producers and engineers are mentioned in U.S. copyright law. Since music producers “were not included in the 1995 law for a statutory right to 45 percent of the performance royalties collected from non-interactive digital music services, producers, mixers and engineers (subject to their contract) had to collect royalties from the performers’ 45 percent. This created an inefficient and non-permanent royalty payment system, with producers and engineers relying on a voluntary policy administered by SoundExchange” (Grammy.com).

AMPA does not create a new right for studio professionals; producers and engineers will continue to collect the royalties they were previously due. However, AMPA establishes a legal procedure for studio professionals to collect those royalties directly from SoundExchange, rather than from the artist or label in question.

Currently, SoundExchange allows artists to pay producers and engineers their share of royalties directly, by accepting what is known as “Letters of Direction;” However, AMPA would officially formalize this process. It would also establish a procedure for producers and engineers who worked on recordings prior to 1995 to apply to be paid royalties directly.

Unfortunately, Letters of Direction are rarely signed during studio sessions, prolonging the compensation and credit owed to studio professionals.

AMPA also creates a procedure for producers and engineers to seek permission from featured artists, or their successors, for sound recordings older than 1995 in order to collect appropriate royalty payments.

If you have questions regarding your current contracts, and understanding your rights under AMPA, please contact us for a free consultation.

#MMA #musiclaw #Music #musicmodernizationact #AllocationMusicProducersAct #AMP #AMPA #Producers #Soundexchange #Royalties #musiclawyer