If you’ve come from my article, So, You Want to Clean Up Your Catalog?, or you’re a weary traveler seeking help managing their music, you’ve come to the right place!
If you’ve ever tried to figure out how to track your music, what rights you own, where that one agreement is, who controls a particular right, or whether you’re actually receiving the income you’re owed, you know how quickly this information can become a nightmare. This is where the Rights Matrix comes in.
What does the Rights Matrix track?
A lot.
The Rights Matrix tracks metadata, registrations, agreements, and any other information necessary to confirm chain of title for a specific work. That information can then be used to support rights deals and other exploitations of the works.
In particular, the Rights Matrix tracks some of the following for your master recordings and/or musical compositions:
- Titles and alternate titles
- Performing artists, featured artists
- Releases and projects (albums, EP, films)
- Writer(s) and Publisher(s) (names, PROs, IPI#s)
- ID Codes (ISRC, ISWC, SXID)
- Producers
- Third-party contributors
- Third-party materials
- Applicable agreements
- Copyright registrations
- Label, distributor, publisher
What does the Rights Matrix NOT track?
This template does not track income, royalty payments, advances, or recoupment (if you have any unrecouped accounts). These could be tracked in a separate spreadsheet, document, or file system of your choosing which would give you a better idea of what your catalog is earning and what your unrecouped accounts look like.
I have created a template Catalog Rights Matrix for your personal use, which is available for download below. This template, of course, can and should be customized to your specific Catalog and goals. I’ve included brief explanations of the information needed.
I hope some of you out there may find this useful.
This content is for general education and awareness, not specific legal advice and is no substitute to contacting your own attorney for any legal issues that you may be experiencing. For information, please review the Legal Disclaimer.