WHAT ARE MORAL RIGHTS?

In the music industry, at least in the US, most producer agreements, session musician agreements, and other similar work-for-hire situations will contain language generally stating that you “hereby irrevocably and unconditionally waive all Moral Rights or droit moral.” Moral Rights are not tied directly to money, and they are not actually recognized in the United States, but nevertheless, they can be extremely valuable to musicians and other creators.

It is important to fully understand “Moral Rights” before entering into any agreement where you are giving them up.

First Off, What Are Moral Rights and Why Do They Matter?

Moral Rights were codified through the Berne Convention of 1886, which created two important rights for creators:

1) The right to (or not to) receive attribution in connection with any use of their work; and

2) The right to object to any uses of his or her work that the creator sees as harmful to his or her name.

Among other things, this means that musicians always have a right to be credited for their contributions to a song, even if they signed over control of the Copyright of the song itself. This can be very important, especially for session musicians — who are often not fairly compensated for the effect that their contributions may have on a song. Moral…