---
title: Master versus composition: what it means and what it does to the money
publisher: RapCanon
canonical: https://rapcanon.com/glossary/master-vs-composition/
license: CC-BY-4.0
retrieved: 2026-08-12
---

> Every piece of recorded music contains two separate copyrights: the composition, which is the underlying song, and the master, which is the specific recording of it.

Glossary · Ownership

 
# Master versus composition

 
also filed under: two copyrights, sound recording vs song, master rights

 
 

 
 Every piece of recorded music contains two separate copyrights: the composition, which is the underlying song, and the master, which is the specific recording of it. 

 
## The mechanism

 
The two are owned, licensed, registered and paid separately, often by different parties. Labels typically hold masters; writers and publishers hold compositions. A licence for one does not licence the other.

 
## A worked example

 A film wanting to use a track must clear both the master from whoever owns the recording and the composition from the publisher. Either can refuse independently. 

 
## What it is confused with

 - Publishing Publishing is the business of administering the composition side. It is not a third copyright.
 

 
## Why it matters

 
Almost every ownership dispute, catalogue sale and re-recording is about which of the two is being discussed, and conflating them makes any deal unreadable.

 
Sources: US Copyright Office
 This entry is part of an open dataset published under CC-BY 4.0. Reuse it, including commercially, with attribution.
 Related: Recoupment · Black box royalties · 360 deal

---

## How to cite this page

**APA**
RapCanon. (2026). Master versus composition: what it means and what it does to the money. Retrieved from https://rapcanon.com/glossary/master-vs-composition/

**BibTeX**
```bibtex
@misc{rapcanon-glossary-master-vs-composition,
  title  = {Master versus composition: what it means and what it does to the money},
  author = {{RapCanon}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://rapcanon.com/glossary/master-vs-composition/},
  note   = {Accessed: 2026-08-12}
}
```

**Wikipedia**
```
{{cite web |title=Master versus composition: what it means and what it does to the money |url=https://rapcanon.com/glossary/master-vs-composition/ |publisher=RapCanon |access-date=2026-08-12}}
```

Licensed CC-BY 4.0. Reuse it, including commercially, with attribution and a link back.
Canonical HTML: https://rapcanon.com/glossary/master-vs-composition/