Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2009 June 22

= June 22 =

Finding owner of music rights
I'm trying to find out who owns the rights to a piece of music. The band is called 'Afrique' and the tune is called 'House of the Rising Funk'. It's on an album called 'Soul Makossa' from the early 1970s. Any idea how I can find out the owner?Popcorn II (talk) 14:45, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * The Chubukos recorded a song by the same name, which, according to this was written by Richard Fritz. I don't know if it's the same song.  Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 17:42, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Interesting, it seems to be the same song. Released in the same year under a different band name?Popcorn II (talk) 18:35, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

So I've found it on a compilation. It says "Cat. No. MSL1018 Copyright Mainstream 1973 Published by Slowdancing Music issued under licence from Time Records". So who do I need to contact?Popcorn II (talk) 21:34, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Hm, that's too bad that the CD appears to not have that song on it. The first entry when Googling afrique "house of the rising funk" says that the Chubukos are "aka Afrique" and refers to Mainstream Records, who might know all the answers to your question.  You asked "who owns the rights".  These are often split between the copyright holder, the publisher, and the songwriter, depending on the rights you're talking about.  See Mechanical license, synch rights, and our stub publishing rights.  Not a super-great single source of information, unfortunately.  Tempshill (talk) 01:45, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll hassle Mainstream.Popcorn II (talk) 13:02, 23 June 2009 (UTC)