Artist Licensing Agreement Question???

[johnlewitt]

Hi All,

I just got offered a chance to sign an exclusive agreement thru one of my taxi forwards. In reading over the contract they are asking for 'Rights licensed herein in perpetuity'. Furthermore, there is nothing in the contract that says the agreement can be cancelled, in writing after X number of days. My previous experiences have all had time limits on them and had the right to cancel in some form or another.

So, here are my questions.

1) How common is the rights in perpetuity on the contracts that you all see?
2) Has anyone ever renegotiated the terms put forth by one of these companies? By renegotiated, in this case I mean setting a time limit and giving myself some wiggle room to regain control of the track.

Thanks for your advice.

John

[EricB]

I've seen "in perpetuity" on a few times. One of my deals I was able to add a clause where if nothing got placed in five years my rights would be reverted back to me. When I was negotiating the library said that when they spend years shopping your music around just to have the rights revert back to you when they eventually get a placement. I understand this logic. I wouldn't want to invest years into spreading a track through all my contacts just to have to worry if I'll have the rights when someone wants it.

Bottom line, if you think a song is a one of a kind that you won't be able to make again don't sign it to an exclusive library.

Hi All,

I just got offered a chance to sign an exclusive agreement thru one of my taxi forwards. In reading over the contract they are asking for 'Rights licensed herein in perpetuity'. Furthermore, there is nothing in the contract that says the agreement can be cancelled, in writing after X number of days. My previous experiences have all had time limits on them and had the right to cancel in some form or another.

So, here are my questions.

1) How common is the rights in perpetuity on the contracts that you all see?
2) Has anyone ever renegotiated the terms put forth by one of these companies? By renegotiated, in this case I mean setting a time limit and giving myself some wiggle room to regain control of the track.

Thanks for your advice.

John

[johnlewitt]

Thanks for the reply Eric.

John

[PaulBergren]

I just got offered a chance to sign an exclusive agreement thru one of my taxi forwards.

Nice job friend.

[johnlewitt]

Thanks. Good to see you on the forum Paul!

John

[PaulBergren]

Good to be seen.

[eeoo]

It's not uncommon, I signed all my best tracks to an exclusive deal in perpetuity but I know it's a top notch library and I developed a personal relationship with it's proprietor before signing anything over. It's definitely not one size fits all, you have to do your due diligence and take it from there.

Congrats on the offer, good luck!

eo

[johnlewitt]

Thanks Eo, that's good to know.

How did you end up vetting the company?

John

[eeoo]

I was introduced to him at the 2012 Taxi Rally by one of Taxi's most successful members and subsequently had numerous phone conversations and e-mail correspondences before signing. I also knew several of the writers he already had signed up and everyone spoke highly of him.