Work made for hire is a phrase that describes recorded or written (“fixated”) works. Work made for hire is protected from use without the authorization of copyright owners. Royalties may be due when work made for hire is used by those other than the owners.

Generally, authors or creators of works are automatically copyrighted and owned by their creators and the concept of work made for hire has no real relevance. However, a company can own copyrights to materials created or written by employees while in the employ of that company. Commissioned works can be owned by those who commissioned and paid for the works. Most cases of work made for hire are this simple and concrete.

However, as simple and concrete as most cases of work made for hire can be, legal interpretations of other cases can make the subject of work made for hire extremely complex. Indeed, when delving into collective works, such as recordings of music and musical arrangements, complexities of work made for hire can ensue, especially when agreements have been struck, written, and signed.

Relationships between parties can determine whether or not particular works fall under the concept of work made for hire. The definition of work made for hire was undertaken by the Supreme Court some years ago, and the upshot of the case is that work made for hire is determined by the relationship of the creator to the user, i.e., employer-employee or user-independent contractor. Relationships also determine who profits from work made for hire.

Additionally, the term “employee” can take on a different meaning than is generally applied to the concept. Copyright laws will apply under the law of agency, which warrants further definition. Furthermore, work made for hire is categorized into different areas, and written agreements between parties apply when work for hire is specified as such.

Factors of work made for hire can be complex, and cases of work made for hire may require legal minds to untangle agreements and ownership rights, but ownership of work made for hire can be determined. Musical arrangements written for a particular record label by salaried employees (composers, arrangers) come under the work made for hire concept, but the music, lyrics, or compositions of independent artists are copyrighted automatically to the authors, song-writers, and composers. Sound recordings created by the engineers employed by labels companies are the property of the company who employs and pays the engineer for his/her time, while music engineered by an individual artist is the automatically the property of the artist – unless written agreements have been struck to state otherwise.

work made for hire is further described in federal government materials and on the copyright.gov Internet website.

This article provides an overview of work made for hire. If you would like to submit an article about work made for hire or any other music-related subject, please feel free to do so here at Media Positive Radio.