The Cornerstone of Your Career: Protecting Your Music’s Ownership

For any independent artist in 2025, your music is more than just sound – it’s your intellectual property, your creative expression, and potentially your most valuable asset. The question of ownership is paramount in the music industry. Historically, artists have often had to sign away significant rights to record labels or traditional distributors in exchange for exposure, leaving them with limited control and a diminished share of their own creations.

This article directly addresses this critical concern: Does Hankad own your music? The answer is a resounding NO. Hankad is built on an unwavering commitment to 100% artist ownership and creative control, ensuring your music, your rights, and your legacy remain entirely yours.

Understanding Music Ownership: Masters vs. Compositions

To fully grasp what Hankad protects, it’s important to differentiate between two key types of music ownership:

  1. Master Recording Ownership (Sound Recording): This refers to the specific recorded version of a song. As an independent artist, when you record your music, you typically own the master recording. This is what’s distributed to streaming platforms.
  2. Compositional Ownership (Musical Work/Publishing): This refers to the underlying song itself – the melody, lyrics, and arrangement. Songwriters and composers own the copyright to the composition.

Many traditional deals might require artists to transfer ownership of their masters, or at least a significant portion, to a label. Similarly, publishing deals involve transferring or licensing compositional rights.

Hankad’s Unwavering Commitment: 100% Artist Ownership

Hankad’s core philosophy is to empower independent artists by ensuring they retain complete control and ownership over their creative work:

  • Your Masters Remain Yours: When you distribute your music through Hankad, you maintain 100% absolute ownership of your master recordings. Hankad acts solely as your digital distribution partner, licensing your music to streaming services and digital stores on your behalf. They do not claim any ownership stake in your sound recordings.
  • Your Compositions Remain Yours: Hankad also upholds your ownership of your musical compositions. While Hankad offers comprehensive Music Publishing Administration to help you collect all your songwriting royalties (performance, mechanical, sync) globally, this is a service provided to you, not an acquisition of your rights. You retain full ownership of your compositions.

This commitment means you are always in the driver’s seat when it comes to your artistic career.

The Power of Retaining Creative Control

Ownership directly translates into creative control. With Hankad, you retain the power to:

  • Make All Artistic Decisions: You decide what music to create, how it sounds, your artwork, and your overall artistic direction, free from external influence.
  • Control Your Release Strategy: You choose when to release your music, how often, and to which platforms. There are no gatekeepers dictating your schedule.
  • Maximize Long-Term Value: By owning your masters and compositions, you control all future licensing opportunities (for film, TV, ads, games), sync deals, and any other revenue streams your music generates. This ensures you build a sustainable legacy and maximize your long-term earnings.
  • Negotiate from Strength: Should you ever consider a partnership with a label or publisher in the future, you approach negotiations from a position of power, as you own the valuable assets.

Hankad: Your Partner, Not Your Owner

Hankad is built as a service provider and a partner, not a proprietor of your art. Our business model thrives on your success, taking a transparent commission from your earnings after you get paid by the platforms, rather than acquiring your valuable intellectual property upfront.

In an industry where protecting your rights is more crucial than ever, Hankad offers a secure and empowering environment for independent artists. Your music is your voice, your vision, and your property – and Hankad ensures it stays that way.

Ready to distribute your music while keeping 100% of your ownership and control? Sign up for Hankad today, absolutely free, at hankad.io!