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Music rights
音樂版權
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The market for song royalties is a hit for investors
歌曲版稅市場對投資者來說是個大熱門
Ben stennis is a country-music songwriter from Nashville who has written hits for performers such as Tim McGraw and Jason Aldean. Earlier this year, as the music industry was stopped in its tracks by the coronavirus, a company called Royalty Exchange offered him the chance to raise some cash. Since 2016 it has run an online marketplace that brings together musicians who want to sell their work and punters wanting to invest in royalties. Anthony Martini, a partner in Royalty Exchange, says it has 25,000 potential investors on its books, from pension funds to "dentists from Ohio". The rate of investors signing up has doubled this year, compared with 2019.
本·斯坦尼斯是一名來自納什維爾的鄉村音樂作曲家，他曾為蒂姆·麥格勞和杰森·阿爾丁等表演者創作過熱門歌曲。今年早些時候，在音樂產業因新冠病毒而停滯不前之時，一家名為“版稅交易”的公司向他提供了籌集資金的機會。自2016年以來，該公司運營了一個在線市場，將想要出售自己作品的音樂家和希望投資版稅的客戶聚集在一起。版稅交易合伙人安東尼·馬提尼表示，該公司賬面上有2.5萬名潛在投資者，從養老基金到"俄亥俄州的牙醫"。與2019年相比，今年的投資者注冊率翻了一番。
Music royalties are a complicated business. When a song is recorded, copyrights are created both for the composition of the song and the recording itself. Each of those rights is then split into mechanical rights (generated when a song is sold in a physical format or streamed), performance rights (when it is played on the radio or live at a concert) and synchronisation rights (when it appears in a film, television programme or a video game).
音樂版稅是一個復雜的行業。當一首歌被錄制時，歌曲的創作和錄音本身就具有版權。這些版權再下分為機械權（當一首歌以實體形式或流媒體形式出售時產生）、表演權（當一首歌在收音機上播放或者在音樂會現場直播時產生）和同步權（當一首歌出現在電影、電視節目或電子游戲中產生）。
The idea of investing in royalties is not new. In 1985 Michael Jackson forked out $47.5m for the rights to the recordings of around 250 songs by The Beatles; Taylor Swift is trying to buy the rights to some of her master tapes after her previous record label was sold. But firms like Royalty Exchange are making rights affordable to a wider pool of investors; some auctions start with prices in the four figures. (Mr Stennis sold his rights, and paid off his mortgage with the proceeds.)
投資版稅的想法并不新鮮。1985年，邁克爾·杰克遜花了4750萬美元買下了甲殼蟲樂隊約250首歌曲的版權；泰勒·斯威夫特在之前的唱片公司被出售后試圖購買一些母帶的版權。而像“版稅交易”這樣的公司正在讓更多的投資者能夠負擔得起版權；一些拍賣以四位數的價格開始。（斯坦尼斯賣掉了自己的權利，并用所得償還了抵押貸款。）
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