Master recording

{{Short description|Original recording of audio performance}} A '''master recording''', or simply a '''master''', is the original recording—including [[Mastering (audio)|post-recording mixes]] and [[Record producer|production edits]]—of an audio performance, from which all analog and digital copies of the audio are derived.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-06-25 |title=Sheryl Crow: Universal Studios fire destroyed all my master tapes |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-48745638 |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=[[BBC]] |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Passman |first=Donald S. |title=All you need to know about the music business |date=2006 |publisher=[[Free Press (publisher)|Free Press]] |isbn=978-0-7432-9318-1 |edition=6th ed.; [rev. and updated] |location=New York}}</ref> The term refers only to the recorded performance of a song; it does not cover the composition of recorded material, which is a separate copyright that belongs to the songwriter unless ownership of the copyright is transferred or sold to a separate entity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Osborne |first=Richard |title=Owning the masters: a history of sound recording copyright |date=2023 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-5013-4593-7 |location=New York, London, Oxford, New Delhi, Sydney}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

[[Category:Copyright law legal terminology]] [[Category:Rights of performers and phonogram producers]]