Do I Own The Sound Recording Copyright?

[Domlun]

Do I own the sound recording copyright to a demo that I paid to have done?

Having all the master tracks (which I do), could I theoretically take say the piano track from a demo of one of my songs and include that in a new production of the song and release it, or would that give me legal trouble?

I'm assuming that I do, since it was a work made for hire, but maybe I'm missing something.

[Luftrum]

If they paid you to do a demo, they own the rights to it, since they hired you to do it for them. Just like any other musician who is paid to produce/play some part of a score/demo/song. They obtain no rights to the production either.

But I would ask the company you worked for, nothing wrong with asking.

[BONES]

It's the other way around - he paid them. Which means he owns it, lock, stock and barrel. It's the same as buying an instrument with preset sequences and arpeggios - you paid for those, which includes the right to use them in your own productions. If the people who did the work wanted to use it, even on a demo tape they use to get other clients, they'd need your permission to do so.

[Domlun]

If they paid you to do a demo, they own the rights to it, since they hired you to do it for them. Just like any other musician who is paid to produce/play some part of a score/demo/song. They obtain no rights to the production either.

But I would ask the company you worked for, nothing wrong with asking.

No. I didn't ever work for them. They worked for me. They were a demo studio. I sent them my song with a simple piano accompaniment to the melody and lyrics that I sang. I hadn't ever met them in person, just consultation over the phone and e-mail. I paid them to do a job for me. They hired the session players at the instruction of what kind of production I wanted for the song.

I never met or saw the players or the producers. The demo studio produced the demo at my behest and under my instruction. I paid for it all and was sent a final mix of the song along with the original master ADATS of all the tracks, track paperwork and lead sheets that were used. From ADATS, I guess you can figure out that this was many years ago.

There were some vox tracks with a demo singer they hired, but I have no intention of ever using those tracks. I'm just talking about maybe using the ac guitar, the piano etc. being placed into a new, more complete and releasable production of the song.

[BertKoor]

Yes, you owned it then, you still own it now.
You paid for it. It is totally yours. You are free to do whatever with it.

[whyterabbyt]

Do I own the sound recording copyright to a demo that I paid to have done?

Having all the master tracks (which I do), could I theoretically take say the piano track from a demo of one of my songs and include that in a new production of the song and release it, or would that give me legal trouble?

I'm assuming that I do, since it was a work made for hire, but maybe I'm missing something.

If you specified that in your contract, then yes. If you didnt, you should have.
If it came down to a legal case you'd have a good argument that the rights were yours, unless the contract actually states the opposite.

[Domlun]

Do I own the sound recording copyright to a demo that I paid to have done?

Having all the master tracks (which I do), could I theoretically take say the piano track from a demo of one of my songs and include that in a new production of the song and release it, or would that give me legal trouble?

I'm assuming that I do, since it was a work made for hire, but maybe I'm missing something.

If you specified that in your contract, then yes. If you didnt, you should have.
If it came down to a legal case you'd have a good argument that the rights were yours, unless the contract actually states the opposite.

Oh... there was no contract or contracts on either side. It was a very informal and basic retail transaction.

[whyterabbyt]

IANAL but IMO, the more informal it is, the more likely it is the other party could get away with the argument that they maintain the copyright, that you merely paid for licensing rights.

In US Law covering work for hire, for example, it states

For copyright purposes, the employer or commissioning party is both:

The author of a work made for hire.
The initial owner of the copyright in the work unless that party and the work's creator agree differently in writing.

To me, that implies that without a prior agreement that you absolutely do get copyright, disagreement on the part of the work's creator as to copyright ownership could be sufficient to challenge that.