Neighbouring rights, royalty audit, dispute, ISRC: knowing the vocabulary is the fastest way to see where revenue is being left behind. Seventeen definitions, as short as possible.
Glossary
This glossary explains the terms we deal with in mandates every day – precise, but without legalese. Written and reviewed by Jens Rose, Managing Director of Beat Box GmbH and active in rights administration for more than 30 years.
The rights of performers, phonogram producers and broadcasters, as distinct from the copyright in the underlying composition and lyrics. In Germany the producer's right is set out in section 85 of the Copyright Act (UrhG) and arises from the entrepreneurial act of making the recording.
Whoever finances and takes commercial responsibility for a sound recording – traditionally the label, but often the producer, the artist or a production company. The phonogram producer holds the neighbouring right in the recording and is the party entitled to collect from collective management organisations.
An organisation that licenses uses on behalf of many rights holders, collects the remuneration and distributes it according to a distribution plan. Examples: GVL (Germany), PPL (United Kingdom), SENA (Netherlands), SIMIM (Belgium), SoundExchange (United States), GEMA (authors' rights in Germany).
Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten, Berlin. Collects broadcasting and public performance remuneration for sound recordings in Germany and distributes it to performers and phonogram producers. Payment requires that the repertoire has been registered completely and correctly.
The United States CMO for digital non-interactive transmissions – satellite radio, internet radio and comparable services. Distributes to phonogram producers and performers. Claims in the US are among the most frequently overlooked by European rights holders.
The two rights layers in every music use. Master refers to the specific recording (neighbouring rights), publishing to the underlying work of composition and lyrics (copyright). Managing only one layer leaves the revenue of the other on the table.
International Standard Recording Code: the twelve-character globally unique identifier of a single sound recording. The ISRC is the key by which usage reports are matched to rights holders. Missing, duplicated or incorrectly reported ISRCs are one of the most common reasons revenue is never distributed.
The contractually anchored examination of a licensee's, label's or distributor's statements. It checks whether the royalty base is correct, whether all uses were reported, whether the agreed rates and tiers were applied and whether deductions match the contract. The result is a documented difference that can be claimed.
Remuneration held by a CMO that could not be allocated to anyone – usually because repertoire was not registered, registered incompletely or registered incorrectly. Estimates suggest around 30 per cent of neighbouring rights revenue stays unclaimed without active administration.
Payments that went to a third party who does not (or no longer) hold the rights – after a contract ended, a catalogue was sold or rights reverted. Correction runs through a formal dispute procedure at the relevant society.
The formal procedure by which a rights holder challenges an existing registration or distribution at a CMO. Once opened, the society will normally hold back the amounts in question until ownership is established, evidenced by contracts and recording or release documentation.
Claims for remuneration that has already accrued but was never paid out. How far back a claim can reach depends on each society's rules and national law; three to six years is common in practice. Later registration means the older years are lost for good.
The 1961 International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations – the treaty basis for recognising neighbouring rights across borders.
The WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty of 1996, in force since 2002. Extends Rome Convention protection to digital use and covers, among other things, the right of making recordings available online.
Permission to combine a recording with moving images – film, series, advertising, trailer, social video. A sync use always requires both layers: the rights in the recording (master) and the rights in the work (publishing).
Valuing a rights catalogue ahead of a sale or investment, looking separately at neighbouring rights and authors' rights revenue in order to distinguish recurring from one-off income. Clean, complete rights data is the single largest value driver.
A model in which the agency acts on behalf of the rights holder and is remunerated only on amounts actually recovered. Importantly, no rights are transferred – the rights holder remains the owner and the contracting party of the CMO.
Last updated: September 2026. This glossary is not legal advice. Beat Box GmbH is neither a collective management organisation nor a law firm.