In a major win for songwriters and their heirs, the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal in the Vetter case. That leaves in place a federal appeals court ruling saying that when American creators take back their copyrights under U.S. law, they get back their rights worldwide, not just in the United States.
When songwriters start out, many sign away their copyrights to a publisher or record company, often before they have any bargaining power or awareness of what their music is worth. Over decades, the SGA has worked with Congress to help them recognize that this can be unfair. So the U.S. Copyright Act (heavily influenced by SGA advocacy) gives creators, and their heirs, a right to “terminate” those old transfers after a set number of years and take the copyright back. A previous contract can’t take this right away. It is a built-in second chance for creators and their families.
For decades, big-money music (the record labels and their publishers) took the position that termination only brought back U.S. rights. Under that view, the publisher could keep the rights in the rest of the world, even after the songwriter had successfully terminated the deal. However, songwriter Cyril Vetter, co-writer of the 1963 hit “Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love),” challenged that view.
He terminated his original grant and then sued when the company that had acquired the publisher’s interest claimed it still controlled the song overseas. Vetter won in the trial court. In January 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit agreed. It ruled that when a creator terminates a worldwide grant, the creator gets back the worldwide rights.
BMG and the major music companies asked the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling. By declining to take the case, the Court let the Fifth Circuit decision stand. A termination can now bring back the whole bundle of rights, not just the U.S. slice. Authors and heirs have a strong precedent to point to when they terminate.
SGA and the member organizations of Music Creators North America are celebrating.
“We’re thrilled,” said SGA President Rick Carnes. “For a half-century, the SGA has been fighting for this result, starting with the push to include termination rights in the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. Now that hard work is paying off around the world.”
Carnes congratulated attorney Tim Kappel, who led the litigation for the “Double Shot” songwriters. He also thanked SGA’s outside counsel Charlie Sanders and Word Collections’ counsel Eric Goldberg, along with the other legal consultants who worked on the issue over the years.
“This is a long-fought victory, and we plan to keep defending it so songwriters can reclaim what they created, now and in the future,” Carnes said.
By L.A. Stevens
August 10, 2026 (Washington, D.C.) — Somewhere in a Washington, D.C. filing cabinet, a deal is being negotiated that will decide how much money songwriters make for the next five years. Most of those songwriters have no idea it's happening. That's the problem.
The Songwriters Guild of America, Jeff Price's
Word Collections, Eminem's publishing company Eight Mile Style,
and other pro-creator organizations have asked the
U.S. Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) to reject a conflicted royalty rate deal and send it back for real, arm's-length negotiations — the kind creators actually get a seat at.
Here's the backstory. Every five years, the CRB — a small federal panel almost nobody outside the music business has heard of, yet one that quietly shapes how songwriters get paid — sets the "mechanical rate": the per-song royalty owed to songwriters and composers whenever their music is pressed onto vinyl, sold as a download or licensed in another physical form. This round, Phonorecords V, covers 2028 through 2032. It's shaping up to be a fight worth paying attention to.
In late June, the major labels along with the American Association of Independent Music, the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) and the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), proposed a settlement to the CRB. Their pitch, in essence: leave the existing rate structure alone. That sounds harmless enough — maybe even fair. But our joint objection filed with Word Collections, as well as those filed by Eight Mile Style and others, say it's anything but.
will the crb pay songwriters fairly? read moreWhether you're a pro songwriter or the heir to a catalog, there's a lot to look after: licensing, royalties, copyrights and getting your rights back. We can help, and we do it for less than anyone else. We're songwriters too, so we we know how important it is to hold on to your royalties.
PRO SERVICES -Not published yet but driven to make music? As a developing songwriter member, you get feedback on your songs from pro hit writers, live gigs, contract reviews, gear giveaways and discounts on Awards entries and dual memberships.
GROW YOUROur work in Washington has helped raise royalty rates, opened the courts to songwriters whose work gets stolen and shut down large-scale piracy. What's next? We want the MLC to pay all songwriters, plus we're taking on the companies that train AI on human-made songs without ever paying the writers of those songs.
ISSUES THATShow off your best songs. The SGA Awards spotlight the best songs from rising songwriters. Winners get trophies, cash prizes, live gigs and a workshop with a multi-diamond pro writer. It's a great place to get noticed.
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