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Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

Abstract

This Note examines music catalog transactions from a tax perspective to determine the key considerations, benefits, and consequences of such a transaction, and then addresses why these characteristics are inconsistent with the purpose of copyright law. First, this Note addresses the copyright concepts that govern the music industry in Part I.B. In Part II, royalties are discussed as one method that musicians can rely on to earn revenue from their music, including a summary of how those earnings are taxed. In Part III, these findings will be weighed against similar considerations for the sale of an artist's music catalog, including the benefits, consequences, and tax treatment of these transactions, from the perspective of both the buyer and the seller. Part IV proposes that songs should be reclassified as capital assets even before sale to reconcile the taxation of music assets with the goal of copyright law, which is to incentivize the creation of new works.

The purpose of this analysis is to understand the relative benefits and downsides of either method of earning income, to determine whether the financial and tax treatments of these two methods of earning revenue are equitable, and to determine what type of policy may improve musicians' abilities to earn sufficient income.

Disciplines

Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law | Evidence | Intellectual Property Law | International Law | Law | Science and Technology Law

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