KVR Audio

keyman_sam · Post by **keyman_sam** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:17 am

I've been the unfortunate victim of a film project in which the director of the movie sold my music to a music label, had it mastered without my permission and released it under the label (mentioning me as the composer).

I'm extremely pissed off because:
1). The music I handed was not complete, sucks (more than usual), has been destroyed in the process of "mastering", sounds worse than a demo and just wasn't ready yet.
2). The guy still owes me money for recording costs, etc.
3). The director of the movie sold rights to MY music - rights that he never had, again without my permission.
4). The label released the music without my knowledge or permission

What are my options? I'm thinking of completing the music myself and publishing it or talking to the label directly, if that's even possible. Pretty sure the music won't take off, but more importantly it's got my name on it when it wasn't even ready yet.

This isn't a popular big-name label or anything, but its pretty embarrassing when you hear of your album release from your friends.

Ridan · Post by **Ridan** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:32 am

Was there a contract involved?

keyman_sam · Post by **keyman_sam** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 6:04 am

Ridan wrote:Was there a contract involved?

Nope. No contract - no agreement. It was on a honor basis - and the rights weren't discussed at any point.

ObsoleteAcc99 · Post by **ObsoleteAcc99** » Fri Dec 25, 2015 1:30 am

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sprnva · Post by **sprnva** » Fri Dec 25, 2015 1:38 am

Honor basis isn't going to stand to his defence in court. He can't prove ownership of the music in any way. What he did was no different than if I went and grabbed a bunch of music from someone's Soundcloud page and sold it on CD. You just can't go releasing material you don't have the rights to.

At the very least you should be able to get the release pulled from distribution as it's effectively a bootleg. Maybe talk to a local musicians support/rights organisation as well and find out what you can do (as you're asking advice here I'm assuming you're not already registered with one).

keyman_sam · Post by **keyman_sam** » Fri Dec 25, 2015 1:45 am

sprnva wrote:Honor basis isn't going to stand to his defence in court. He can't prove ownership of the music in any way. What he did was no different than if I went and grabbed a bunch of music from someone's Soundcloud page and sold it on CD. You just can't go releasing material you don't have the rights to.

At the very least you should be able to get the release pulled from distribution as it's effectively a bootleg. Maybe talk to a local musicians support/rights organisation as well and find out what you can do (as you're asking advice here I'm assuming you're not already registered with one).

Correct - I'm not registered anywhere. Since I'm living abroad I'm not sure if that's a possibility.

Ridan · Post by **Ridan** » Fri Dec 25, 2015 2:05 am

TheoM wrote:hopefully, they are screwed. That's so disgraceful. All the chips lie in your corner legally, but you will have to be prepared to spend the money and time to pursue it.

Right. If he has the time and money to pursue this issue head on then, I agree. Go straight for it.
It'd be worth the fight.

sprnva · Post by **sprnva** » Fri Dec 25, 2015 2:22 am

keyman_sam wrote:Correct - I'm not registered anywhere. Since I'm living abroad I'm not sure if that's a possibility.

It should be possible to contact some organisation online. These are the people who would advise musicians about copyright, royalties etc so they'll know the legal avenues for situations like this.

Have a look online and see if you can find one near your hometown and get in touch. You should be able to get advice without being a member.

What do you do when a label releases your crappy demos without your permission?