When a recording artist or songwriter dies, their music rights pass to their estate. Administering those rights — collecting royalties, maintaining distribution, correcting metadata, and engaging with collection societies — requires specialist knowledge that most estate administrators do not have. Label services companies fill exactly this gap.
What happens to music rights when an artist dies
Music rights — master recordings and publishing copyright — are property. When an artist dies, their rights pass through their estate in the same way as any other asset, subject to probate and the terms of their will. If the artist had a record deal, the label typically retains its licence to distribute the recordings while they are contracted. If the artist was self-releasing, ownership of the masters passes directly to the estate. If they had a publishing deal, the publisher retains administration rights for the term of the agreement. If they were self-published or using a publishing administrator, those rights also pass to the estate. Copyright in a musical work in the UK lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. Copyright in a sound recording lasts for 70 years from publication. An estate therefore inherits rights that may generate royalties for decades to come.
The administrative challenges estates face
Estate administrators — whether professional solicitors or family members — typically face a cluster of challenges when taking control of music rights:
- Identifying all active distribution agreements and understanding the terms — particularly whether the estate has the right to terminate and redistribute, or whether existing deals run for a fixed term.
- Tracing all collection society memberships — PRS, PPL, MCPS, and any international equivalents the artist was registered with.
- Identifying unclaimed or undistributed royalties held by collection societies or distribution platforms, including back catalogue income that pre-dates the death.
- Correcting or updating metadata across DSPs — artist profiles, rights owner credits, payment routing — to ensure royalties flow to the estate rather than being returned to distribution platforms or held in unmatched accounts.
- Managing the ongoing relationship with PRS, PPL, and international reciprocal societies to ensure the estate is recognised as the rightful successor.
- Understanding sync licensing — whether the estate has the right to approve sync placements and how existing sync licences interact with the death of the original rights holder.
What a label services company does for estates
A label services company brings the operational infrastructure of a record label to an estate without requiring the estate to build that capability internally. For music estates, this typically includes catalogue audit — identifying every active release, every collection society registration, and every royalty stream; metadata remediation — correcting rights owner credits, updating payment routing to the estate's designated accounts, and ensuring ISRCs, ISWCs, and UPCs are correctly registered; distribution management — either maintaining existing distribution or migrating the catalogue to a new distribution agreement on the estate's terms; and active royalty pursuit — engaging with PRS, PPL, and international reciprocal societies on the estate's behalf to claim any uncollected income. The label services provider operates on commission, meaning estates do not pay upfront fees and the provider only earns when royalties are successfully collected.
PRS and PPL — transferring membership to an estate
When an artist who was a PRS or PPL member dies, the membership does not automatically transfer. The estate must notify PRS and PPL of the death and provide probate documentation. PRS will then recognise the estate (or the designated beneficiaries) as the successor to the deceased's publishing rights. PPL handles the transfer of label and performer accounts similarly. This process can take several months and requires correct documentation. In the interim, royalties continue to accumulate in the deceased's account and will be released to the estate once the transfer is complete. Delays in notifying PRS and PPL do not cause royalties to be lost — they cause them to be held longer. However, actively managing the transition minimises the period during which the estate has no visibility into what is accruing.
International considerations
If the artist had any international profile — airplay in continental Europe, releases distributed to global DSPs, or touring outside the UK — the estate must also consider international collection society accounts. Income from Germany (collected by GEMA and GVL), France (SACEM, SCPP), Australia (APRA AMCOS, PPCA), Canada (SOCAN, Re:Sound), and the United States (BMI, ASCAP, SoundExchange) may be sitting in those societies' unmatched accounts. A label services company with experience in international rights administration can pursue these streams on the estate's behalf through formal claims to each society.
How to start
If you are administering a music estate and need to understand what rights exist, where royalties are being collected, and how to bring the catalogue under effective administration, the first step is a catalogue assessment. Code Group Music works with estates and heirs to audit inherited catalogues, correct metadata, transfer collection society relationships, and manage ongoing royalty collection on a commission basis. Begin at codegroupmusic.co.uk/#catalog-assessment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who legally controls music rights after an artist's death?
The executor of the artist's estate controls the rights during probate, after which ownership passes to the beneficiaries named in the will, or to the intestacy beneficiaries if there is no will. If rights are held through a company (as many professional artists structure them), the company continues to own the rights, and ownership of the company passes through the estate.
Can an estate terminate a record label deal that was signed before the artist's death?
This depends on the specific terms of the agreement. Most recording contracts include provisions about what happens on the death of the artist, including whether the estate inherits the agreement, whether the label retains its licence for the contracted term, and whether the estate has any right to terminate. Review the contract carefully and obtain music industry legal advice before taking any action.
How long does it take to transfer PRS membership to an estate?
The timeline varies depending on the complexity of the estate and the speed of probate. PRS typically requires grant of probate or letters of administration, along with identification documents for the estate representatives. The process typically takes two to six months from the date of notification.
Are there royalties that expire if not claimed quickly?
In most cases, royalties held by PRS, PPL, and collection societies do not expire quickly. PRS holds unclaimed royalties for a defined period before redistributing them across the membership. However, some distribution platforms have shorter hold periods, and unclaimed income on certain digital platforms can eventually be released to the platform. Prompt action reduces the risk of loss.
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