Recap: Demystifying Neighboring Rights at the California Copyright Conference

On November 11, Zanoise joined the panel “The Money You Didn’t Know You Have: Demystifying Neighboring Rights” at the California Copyright Conference. The session brought together artists, producers, session musicians, labels, and managers to clarify how global Neighboring Rights royalties really work.

The discussion focused on the essentials:

Eligibility: how featured artists, session musicians, and (to a certain extent) producers participate in Neighboring Rights income.
Metadata & credits: why ISRCs, performer roles, and accurate track data determine whether royalties are actually paid.
U.S. vs international: clearing up misconceptions around SoundExchange, AFM-SAG-AFTRA, US rightsholders’ eligibility for international neighboring rights, the way reciprocity rules play out for U.S. rightsholders.
Global complexity: how differences in treatment of US rightsholdersholders, ownership splits, and distribution rules lead to missed income.
Practical steps: document roles, keep metadata clean, claim/register repertoire early, and revisit older catalogues for retroactive claims.
A Q&A closed the session, showing strong interest in better understanding this complex but important revenue stream.