The 1976 Copyright Act, in provisions that have generally been overlooked until now, provides for the termination of copyright transfers. It entitles content creators to reclaim their copyrights—regardless of any contract stating otherwise—after certain time periods. Even if a recording artist or songwriter signed a contract with a record company or music publisher that purports to transfer all rights in a work in perpetuity, the Copyright Act provides that the author can terminate that grant and demand that the rights revert to the author in a shorter period of time.
Just as the record business has been staggering back to its feet after the digital piracy debacle, another hard blow to the record industry business model is lurking just around the corner. Recording artists and songwriters are now entitled to terminate their contractual transfers and demand back control of their copyrights; songwriters can demand return of their musical compositions from music publishers and recording artists; and record producers can demand return of their sound recordings from the record companies.
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