Before this course: Rights for Creators: contracts and royalties (course 4.7.3), which builds on Licensing in Practice (course 4.7.2) and Music & Copyright for Creators (course 4.7). You can already map who owns a song, read a creator contract, name the kinds of royalties, register works and do advance maths. This course asks a new question: how do you look after a whole catalogue, year after year, for yourself or for others?
01
What a rights manager does
In simple words
A library does not just own books. It knows exactly which books it has, where each one is, who borrowed it, and when it must come back. A rights manager is the librarian of a catalogue of songs, recordings or videos.
Key facts
- A catalogue is a list of works (songs, recordings, videos, photos) and the rights in them. A catalogue is an asset: it can earn money, be licensed, and be sold or inherited.
- A rights manager has five jobs: know what is owned (inventory), prove it (chain of title, lesson 2), describe it (clean data, lesson 3), get paid (registrations and statements, lesson 5) and protect it (claims and enforcement, lesson 6). Running all five well is compliance.
- Copyright is national law, but an international treaty links most countries. The Berne Convention (run by WIPO) has three basic principles: works from one member country get the same protection in each other member country as its own nationals' works; protection must not depend on any formality (such as registration); and protection is independent of protection in the work's country of origin.
- Berne sets a general minimum term: until the end of the 50th year after the author's death (with exceptions for some kinds of works). Countries can give longer terms, and many do (lesson 4).
- Berne also provides moral rights: the right to claim authorship and to object to changes that harm the work.
- Working with a lawyer: a rights manager organises facts and documents; a lawyer gives legal opinions, drafts and negotiates contracts, and handles disputes. Bring the lawyer clean, complete files and clear questions, and you spend less of their time.
Step by step
- List every work you (or a client) own or control, one row each.
- For each, write the kind of work (composition, recording, video, other) and the year it was made.
- Mark each of the five jobs (know, prove, describe, get paid, protect) as Strong, Shaky or Missing for the whole catalogue.
- Write the three biggest risks you see (for example "no signed split for 4 songs").
- Write three questions you would bring to a lawyer.
- Check: you have a one-page catalogue summary with a work count, five ratings, three risks and three lawyer questions.
Watch on YouTube
Videos by other creators on YouTube, for reference. They are not made by or affiliated with The Future Market.
LESSON 01What a rights manager does
Read the video script
[Host] "A rights manager is a librarian for your songs."
[Text on screen: Know. Prove. Describe. Get paid. Protect.] "Five jobs: know what you own, prove it, describe it, get paid, and protect it."
[Screen: WIPO Berne Convention summary] "Most countries share one treaty, the Berne Convention: no formalities, same protection for foreign works."
[Host] "You organise the facts. A lawyer gives the legal opinion. Together, the catalogue is safe."
Try it now
Write your one-page catalogue summary: the work count, the five ratings, three risks and three questions for a lawyer.
ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude
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For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.
I'm learning "Rights Management Pro: catalogue and compliance" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "What a rights manager does". What the lesson teaches: - A catalogue is a list of works (songs, recordings, videos, photos) and the rights in them. A catalogue is an asset: it can earn money, be licensed, and be sold or inherited. - A rights manager has five jobs: know what is owned (inventory), prove it (chain of title, lesson 2), describe it (clean data, lesson 3), get paid (registrations and statements, lesson 5) and protect it (claims and enforcement, lesson 6). Running all five well is compliance. - Copyright is national law, but an international treaty links most countries. The Berne Convention (run by WIPO) has three basic principles: works from one member country get the same protection in each other member country as its own nationals' works; protection must not depend on any formality (such as registration); and protection is independent of protection in the work's country of origin. - Berne sets a general minimum term: until the end of the 50th year after the author's death (with exceptions for some kinds of works). Countries can give longer terms, and many do (lesson 4). - Berne also provides moral rights: the right to claim authorship and to object to changes that harm the work. - Working with a lawyer: a rights manager organises facts and documents; a lawyer gives legal opinions, drafts and negotiates contracts, and handles disputes. Bring the lawyer clean, complete files and clear questions, and you spend less of their time. The exercise I'm working on: Write your one-page catalogue summary: the work count, the five ratings, three risks and three questions for a lawyer. I'm stuck. Please: 1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example. 2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step. 3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.
I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "What a rights manager does" from the course "Rights Management Pro: catalogue and compliance". Here's what the lesson says: A library does not just own books. It knows exactly which books it has, where each one is, who borrowed it, and when it must come back. A rights manager is the librarian of a catalogue of songs, recordings or videos. The activity: Write your one-page catalogue summary: the work count, the five ratings, three risks and three questions for a lawyer. Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words. Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.
Sources
- WIPO, Summary of the Berne Convention (principles, minimum term, moral rights): www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/summary_berne.html
My notes
Saved on this device
02
Chain of title
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03
Catalogue data and identifiers
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04
How long rights last, and the rights calendar
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05
Collections, statements and reconciliation
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06
Online claiming and enforcement at scale
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07
Audits, records, and teaching others
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++
Final project
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Quiz
What are the five jobs of a rights manager?
Know what is owned, prove it, describe it, get paid and protect it.
What are the three basic principles of the Berne Convention?
Foreign works get the same protection as nationals' works; protection needs no formality; protection is independent of the country of origin.
What is a chain of title?
The set of signed documents showing how rights moved from the creators to the current owner.
Name one common gap in a chain of title.
For example a co-writer who never signed the split, a producer with no agreement, or a contract that does not name the songs.
What does an ISRC identify, and what does an ISWC identify?
An ISRC identifies a sound recording or music video; an ISWC identifies a musical work (the composition).
How many characters does an ISRC have?
Twelve: a 5-character prefix, a 2-digit year and a 5-digit designation code.
What is Berne's general minimum term?
Until the end of the 50th year after the author's death (for most works).
Under a life plus 70 rule counted to the end of the calendar year, when is a work by an author who died in 1990 first free?
1 January 2061.
You own 25% of the writing of a song that earned $2,400 for the writers' side, and you were paid $450. What is the gap?
$150 (you expected $600).
Name one kind of material YouTube says is not eligible as a Content ID reference.
For example compilations, remixes of other works, music licensed without exclusivity, or recordings of live performances.
What can happen to someone who repeatedly makes wrong Content ID claims?
Their Content ID access can be disabled and their partnership with YouTube terminated.
What makes a teaching session work?
A clear goal, one idea, one example, one practice task and one check.
EX
Final exam
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CE
Certificate
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