[Michaelrophone]

Hey all! I've got a bit of a head scratcher here and I could really use some advise.

So, I have a few master disks that belong to some past clients. They still owe me some dough, so I've been holding them as collateral until the balance is paid.

The thing is, I've been holding them for A WHILE and I'm very skeptical as to whether or not I'll ever hear from these guys again. Which brings me to my first question:

How long do I have to hold on to these before I can just toss them?

But, the first question just brings up more questions, like:

Can I legally toss them?

Is it essentially abandoned property?

Who owns the rights to the masters if the balance is never paid?

And so on and so forth...

But, the kicker for me is that one of these disks in question contains a song that the artist gave me permission to use for my portfolio. So the even trickier question I've been battling is:

Can I still use the song for my portfolio even though the artist abandoned it and doesn't even have a copy for himself?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
-Michael