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No. 22Rights & Licenses
Also called copyright transfer, rights assignment, assignment of copyright
A permanent transfer of your copyright ownership to the label, as opposed to a licence for a limited term.
High risk
Assignment permanently transfers ownership; a licence would achieve the same commercial purpose while preserving your eventual ownership.
Copyright assignment transfers the ownership of your recordings (and potentially your compositions) from you to the label permanently. This is different from a licence, where you grant the label the right to use your work for a defined period while retaining ownership. Assignment cannot normally be undone, while a licence expires.
Once assigned, you no longer own your recordings. You lose the right to decide how they are used, sold, or licensed, potentially forever. The 35-year US statutory termination right is the only legal mechanism to reclaim assigned recordings.
The same clause is drafted three ways. These are the positions we see, worst first, so you can tell at a glance which one is in front of you.
The drafting language and the negotiation moves for this clause are part of the workspace.
You have read what the clause means and where the risk sits. The rest is the side-by-side of how it reads when it is against you and when it is not, plus the specific moves that get it there.