Distribution & platforms
Global Multi-Platform License
A global multi-platform licence is a grant covering all territories and all distribution channels — broadcast, online, social, in-store, events and apps — under a single agreement. It exists to remove the media-by-media, market-by-market fragmentation that makes music clearance slow, but it remains a licence: it has a term, conditions and a licensor.
In practice
Before relying on one, four things need checking: whether "global" survives platforms and territories added after signature, whether the term is perpetual or renewable, whether it covers advertising and paid media or only organic content, and what happens to already-published content when the agreement ends. A truly perpetual worldwide all-media licence approaches ownership in effect, and is priced accordingly; most offerings marketed this way are annual subscriptions with broad but revocable scope.
How SoniBuyout® handles it
A buyout is the endpoint of that logic: rather than the broadest possible permission, the right itself changes hands. No term, no renewal, no channel list to keep updated, and no counterparty who can reinterpret scope in three years.
Real questions
Is a worldwide licence the same as owning the track?
No. Even a perpetual worldwide licence leaves ownership with the licensor, so you cannot resell, register or fully control the work, and conditions still bind you.
What should I check first in a multi-platform licence?
The post-termination clause. Whether content published during the term stays licensed afterwards determines whether your back catalogue is safe.
Related terms
Own the track instead of renting it
Sonify Music sells exclusive buyouts of catalogue tracks: one payment, full ownership, the track removed from sale and a named certificate of ownership.