Japanese copyright is fucked

(yep, totally legal expression).

In Japan it's possible to have all sorts of mutations of copyright (split copyright) that isn't legal here.

If we follow the American system, the record label retains copyright. Not in the sense that they're the creators, but that the band usually is involved in a contract that gives them authority over the rights to the copyrighted materials sometimes including the rights to outright sell the catalog's copyright alltogether. In the US we don't divide copyright between creator and company, usually one or the other retains them.

So, basically, it depends on the contract but Matina would usually have the rights to distribute, so they would be who I would initially contact. I would also in a case like this CC a copy of the request to the band's management if they're still together. Since Matina is...? defunct, yes? And Madeth Gray'll broke up, like Case said Under Code would be where to go. At the very least they'd be able to direct you in the right direction.


Sometimes with Japanese copyright it's utterly impossible to get rights, but I've only ever requested photography clearance which is 99% more difficult with a band since the possible division of ownership exponentially increases.