In the audiovisual industry, it is still common to refer to“the rights to a song”as if they were a single license. However, one need only analyze how music circulates today within audiovisual productions—TV series, advertising, digital formats, branded content, or content for streaming platforms—to see that this notion is inadequate. Music does not function as a single license, but rather as a system of overlapping rights, the management of which has become a strategic issue for producers, agencies, and creators.
Musical Work and Sound Recording: The Rights That Coexist in a Song
The first issue that often causes confusion is the legal nature of music itself. From a legal standpoint, a song is not an indivisible unit. On the one hand, there is copyright in the musical work—the composition and the lyrics—which is held by the authors or their publishers. On the other hand, there are related rights in the specific recording—that is, the phonogram—which belong to the phonographic producer and the performers.
In practical terms, this means that an audiovisual production may have authorization for the work itself, but not for the master recording that is ultimately played on screen—or vice versa.
What rights come into play when using music in an audiovisual production?
Added to this two-tiered structure is a second level of complexity: the various acts of exploitation. Music incorporated into an audiovisual work simultaneously triggers rights of reproduction (fixation in image form), public communication (broadcasting or exhibition), making available (on-demand streaming), and synchronization—a key contractual concept in industry terminology that governs the authorization to incorporate the musical work into an audiovisual work. Not all uses are equivalent, and a license valid for one broadcast network may not cover other channels, territories, or time periods.
The paradigm shift in audiovisual consumption has intensified this reality. Today, a production is no longer conceived for a single channel. A piece of content can premiere at a festival, air on television, circulate on social media, be broken down into promotional clips, and remain available for years on digital platforms.
Each new use may require different legal protection. In this context, music ceases to be a purely creative element and becomes a contractual asset whose management determines the commercial life of the work.
Music Clearance in Audiovisual Productions
Furthermore, the fragmentation of responsibilities adds another layer of complexity. In many productions, various parties assume different rights depending on the contractual division of responsibilities among the producer, agency, platform, or content operator: the content operator may cover public communication in certain contexts, while the audiovisual producer or creative agency must ensure the global exploitation of the content. This distribution of responsibilities, which is common in practice, explains why music clearance processes have become increasingly exhaustive and are integrated from the early stages of project development.
The challenge becomes even greater when music is adapted to an audiovisual medium. Medleys, cuts, mixes, or rearrangements designed to fit the visual narrative may constitute transformations of the original work. In such cases, a standard authorization is not sufficient: a specific license from the copyright holder may be required, and in certain legal systems, the moral right of integrity comes into play, allowing the author to object to modifications that they consider harmful to their creation.
Music Rights Management as a Factor in Commercial Viability
This situation has led producers and studios to incorporate music rights management as an essential part of the financial and legal framework for their works. Incomplete authorization can result in content being blocked on platforms, unexpected territorial restrictions, claims of intellectual property infringement, and, in some cases, the total or partial removal of the works. In a market where monetization increasingly depends on multiplatform distribution, legal certainty regarding the use of music has become a competitive factor.
There is also a paradox that the audiovisual industry knows all too well: the more iconic the music, the more complex—and usually more expensive—its legal management tends to be. Historical catalogs, multiple rights holders, and contracts fragmented by territory and distribution window complicate the clearance process and prolong production timelines. That is why many companies opt for pre-cleared music libraries or original compositions, not only for creative reasons but also because of the need to ensure the project’s long-term commercial viability.
Ultimately, understanding that behind every song lie the creative work, the recording, and multiple forms of exploitation allows us to anticipate risks and design more robust production strategies. Because in an environment where content travels without borders or single points of entry, music rights management is no longer just an administrative formality, but a key component of the creative and business process itself.
Jesús Nogués, attorney in the Media & Entertainment practice group at Elzaburu