Definitions dictate revenue
Net receipts, gross revenue, and recoupable costs are not standard terms. We negotiate the definitions that determine actual payout.
Practice - Art and entertainment - Streaming licensing
Music & Streaming Licensing
Streaming is not an addendum to the music industry—it is the central economic fact. The difference between a deal that pays a creator and a deal that only looks like it pays a creator lies in the definitions of revenue, platform-specific terms, and the intermediaries between the master recording and the artist. We dissect complex licensing agreements, negotiate master rights, and ensure creators capture long-tail value in an environment designed to dilute it.
- Matter
- Licensing deals
- Register
- Transactional
- Counsel
- Christopher Moye
Streaming licensing
Definitions dictate revenue
Net receipts, gross revenue, and recoupable costs are not standard terms.
Principles · 01
How we draft the matter.
Every engagement is composed against these commitments. They shape the protections we add, the questions we ask, and the document that leaves the file.
Master control
We aggressively structure deals to ensure artists retain ultimate ownership or secure meaningful reversions of their master recordings.
Platform agnostic protections
Technology shifts; the contract must survive. We draft terms that capture value across undiscovered distribution channels and AI ingestion.
What we watch · 02
What can break the matter.
These are the terms, structures, and practical risks that usually decide whether the work holds when the file is tested.
ARTISTLABEL
Master Recording & Publishing Deals
Negotiating the critical agreements that dictate ownership, royalty splits, and reversion rights for both the sound recording and the underlying composition.
PRODUCERMANAGER
Streaming Platform Terms
Dissecting opaque DSP terms and distribution agreements to ensure artists are compensated accurately across diverse global tiers.
CREATORESTATE
AI Ingestion & Fencing
Inserting explicit contractual prohibitions against the use of the artist's catalog for generative AI training without separate, premium compensation.
The work · 03
Four steps. One engagement.
Each step is concrete; each step has a deliverable. The scope is defined, the matter moves, and the file closes.
- 01
Contract Dissection
We audit the proposed licensing or distribution agreement to expose unfavorable royalty definitions and hidden recoupment traps.
- 02
Rights Retention Strategy
We structure counter-offers focused on master ownership, shorter licensing terms, and explicit reversion triggers.
- 03
Negotiation & Redlining
We aggressively negotiate the commercial terms, ensuring the definitions of revenue favor the creator, not the intermediary.
- 04
Royalty Compliance
We establish the audit rights necessary to verify that the label or distributor is actually paying what the contract demands.
Related matters · 04
If this matter is not quite the fit, begin nearby.
These adjacent matters sit in the same transactional register. The scope changes; the posture stays procedural.
Related matterNegotiate
Entertainment & Digital Media Law
Negotiate platform terms, media agreements, and rights chains that shape creator leverage beyond a single recording deal.
Open the matterRelated matterAuthenticate
Fine Art Transactions & Provenance
Bring the same rights discipline to physical works, consignments, and cultural-market transfers when the client spans media.
Open the matterRelated matterSteward
Artist Estates & Archives
Preserve catalog control, postmortem rights, and archive integrity when streaming economics become part of an artist's estate.
Open the matterOWN THE ECONOMICS
Capture your long-tail value.
Negotiate the master rights and streaming agreements that protect your revenue in a shifting industry.
Send us your matter