list Artists who own their master recordings

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by houston, Oct 10, 2006.

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  1. Studio_Two

    Studio_Two Forum Resident

    Hello,

    Could you explain exactly what this means?

    Will the artist own the physical "tapes" and / or is this purely a legal agreement?

    Is this the only thing that dictates whether or not a recording can be remastered?



    TIA,
    Stephen
     
  2. Cymbaline

    Cymbaline Shiny Dog

    Location:
    Buda, TX
    I believe Robert Fripp owns all the King Crimson masters.
     
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  3. reechie

    reechie Senior Member

    Location:
    Baltimore
    It means that the artist, and not the record company, owns the rights to their own recordings. If that artist decides not to renew their contract with their current label, their entire catalog goes with them to the new label, rather than the older albums staying on the original label. This is why, for example, there are USA copies of Paul McCartney's RAM on Columbia Records from the 80's.

    Logically then, if the artist controls the rights to their own catalog, they decide whether or not their CD's get remastered, who does the remastering, and what label releases the remastered product. Bruce Springsteen is a good example of this, apart from a few exceptions, he has chosen not to remaster his older albums. No one from his label Sony/Columbia can tell him he has to remaster, or can release any new versions of his albums without his approval.

    As to who posesses the actual master tapes and multi track recordings, it varies from artist to artist and record company to record company. Frank Zappa (and now his estate) stores and maintains tapes of pretty much everything the man recorded, and likely so do Springsteen and McCartney. However, saying an artist owns the rights to his catalog doesn't necessarily mean they have the tapes themselves. Some artists may have aquired the rights to their catalog, but have no idea where the original master tapes and multi tracks are stored, or even if they still exist. They then have to rely on what tapes are available to them.

    Keep in mind that most albums are owned by their respective record companies, who control the rights, and decide on remastering and reissues. The artist who owns the rights to his own catalog is a rarity.
     
  4. indy mike

    indy mike Forum Pest

    The Trashmen
    Mojo Nixon
    The Wailers (Tacoma branch - Buck Ormsby was a member/founded the label)
    The Yardbirds - Roger the Engineer album
     
  5. XMIAudioTech

    XMIAudioTech New Member

    Location:
    Petaluma, CA
    Neil Diamond (the Bang and CBS stuff for sure, not sure about the Uni/MCA masters)

    -Aaron
     
  6. Chris M

    Chris M Senior Member In Memoriam

    Not sure if he owns it but Levon Helm posses the master tape of the second Band album.
     
  7. clairehuxtable

    clairehuxtable Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    I always been curious about why these artists albums that were originally released on Columbia, are now distributed by Warner (the artists' current label). Does it mean they now own the rights to the earlier material and decided to have it all distributed by the same company?

    Paul Simon
    Chicago
    Elvis Costello
     
  8. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Stevie Wonder owns his post 1971 material.
     
  9. reechie

    reechie Senior Member

    Location:
    Baltimore
    You've answered your own question. Simon owns his own stuff, and moved it over to Warners. Chicago albums have been on several different labels, including their own Chicago Record Company for awhile. Costello is about to move his entire catalog (yet again!) to Universal.

    However, these artists made their label moves independently. The whole "Columbia to Warners" thing is just a coincidence.
     
  10. lukpac

    lukpac Senior Member

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    Details? I've heard "someone" had the (stereo) tapes, but that was it...

    Add the Stones to the list (post 1970).
     
  11. metalbob

    metalbob Senior Member

    Location:
    New Jersey
    I have some DVDs a friend made for me with MTV (believe it or not) footage with Martha Quinn in his vault. He said he built it because there was some theft at the old vault he used to rent. Guess what was stolen. The tapes of him jamming on stage with John Lennon!

    These are great records and the reissues had the non-album B-Sides on them. I didn't even realize these were just reissued again not too long ago on Nuclear Blast (not sure of additional additional bonus tracks). The last label that put the others out - Beyond - went belly-up a few years ago. I realize this pisses of the casual fans, but sometimes there are extenuating circumstances such as these and the Motley Crue reissues. The Crue ones were reissued a second time, each with an additional bonus cut. I guess you have to have a selling point for a label to be interested in reissuing something that was just reissued. Just ask Elvis Costello.
     
  12. Chris Federico

    Chris Federico New Member

    Location:
    Albuquerque, NM
    Begging your pardon, I'm not sure that's true. Playground Psychotics came out a little over a year before Frank died, and that had the Mothers/Lennon/Ono sequence in its entirety, remastered from the multi-track tapes (you can tell because he brought back Flo and Eddie singing "Yoko's in a scumbag," which wasn't heard during the same song on the 1972 Lennon album.) :evil:
     
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  13. metalbob

    metalbob Senior Member

    Location:
    New Jersey
    I don't own the entire Zappa catalog, nor am I an avid follower of Lennon's solo recordings (although I did see US vs. John Lennon a few days ago), so I stand corrected. But, I was making reference to the video footage I saw recorded in 83 or 84 where Zappa himself said it was stolen.
     
  14. houston

    houston Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dallas, Texas, USA
    ConnieFrancis, I don't know if you know it or not, but regarding George Clinton.....HE is the God of funk:righton:
     
  15. Chris Federico

    Chris Federico New Member

    Location:
    Albuquerque, NM
    Oh, I see. We're talking video. Sorry; I misunderstood your post.
     
  16. metalbob

    metalbob Senior Member

    Location:
    New Jersey
    I don't know if the footage he referenced was film or audio. Since he was in what appeared to be a vault full of audio tapes, I assumed it was the audio recording. He did say it was the only tape that was stolen too. I guess he managed to get it back somehow.
     
  17. Spirit Crusher

    Spirit Crusher Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mad Town, WI
    Hey Bob, finally someone here who likes those Anthrax Bush records! I love them, and of course bought the reissues (to have the bonus tracks). I have kept the originals, as they sound much better. Sanctuary, their current label (well, it's not so clear any more...), re-issued Vol. 8 in the U.S. with bonus tracks. The Nuclear Blast re-issues of Stomp and White Noise I believe are Europe-only, and they don't have bonus tracks, as I remember.
     
  18. tim_neely

    tim_neely Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Central VA
    More artists who have the rights to their back catalogs:
    Freddy Cannon
    George Harrison (Dark Horse Records era, 1976 and later)
    Steve Miller (at least since Fly Like an Eagle)
    Pink Floyd (since Wish You Were Here)
    Bob Seger (except the Cameo-Parkway stuff)
     
  19. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

    Universal owns the Uni/MCA masters
     
  20. metalbob

    metalbob Senior Member

    Location:
    New Jersey
    A co-worker of mine loves the Bush era over the Belladonna one. What's even funnier is I accused him of starting this pro-(John)Bush website I discovered which I can't recall right the URL of right now. He actually knew of it and had been on it before.
     
  21. Tony Caldwell

    Tony Caldwell Senior Member

    Location:
    Arkansas
    Michelle Shocked owns her masters. She released some really nice sounding cds of her first few albums with tons of bonus tracks a few years ago.
     
  22. Spirit Crusher

    Spirit Crusher Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mad Town, WI
    reunionbashers?
     
  23. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Hi

    Frankie Valli owns the master to "Grease"
    Herb Alpert owns all his master tapes.
    David Soul owns his "Don't Give Up On Us" master
    Bert Kaempfert's estate owns his masters.
     
  24. jdw

    jdw Senior Member

    Do you have any more info about this?


    Van Morrison owns the majority of his Warner Bros. material. I read in ICE that Warners controls the first 3 albums, but Van regained ownership of the rest of the catalogue...

    Does anyone know if Eric Clapton owns his Reprise era recordings (1983 to present)? All the albums in question were originally issued on Clapton's "Duck" Records sub-label, but I've wanted to know if he actually owns the masters.

    I also wonder about Dylan and his catalogue...
     
  25. pantofis

    pantofis Senior Member

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    Ray Davies owns the Kinks masters
     
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