Ownership & rights
Moral Rights
Moral rights are the personal rights of an author over their work, principally the right to be identified as author and the right to object to modifications prejudicial to the work's integrity. In most civil-law countries they belong to the creator, cannot be sold, and survive a full transfer of economic rights.
In practice
For a buyer this means two things. Attribution: the composer may be entitled to be credited, which matters for film and broadcast credit lists though rarely for advertising. Integrity: a heavy re-edit, a parody use or placement in a context the author finds damaging can in principle be challenged even though you own the economic rights. Well-drafted agreements address this directly with a waiver where local law permits one, or with the author's consent to specified adaptations and to non-attribution.
How SoniBuyout® handles it
The rights-assignment agreement covers adaptation and attribution explicitly alongside the transfer of economic rights, so editing, re-cutting and uncredited commercial use are contractually settled rather than left to interpretation.
Real questions
Can moral rights be transferred?
In most European systems no — they are inalienable. They can often be waived or their exercise limited by agreement, to the extent local law allows.
Do I have to credit the composer in an advert?
Usually not in practice, and agreements commonly include consent to non-attribution. Film and broadcast credit conventions are stricter.
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.