What happens when a music library goes out of business??

[PeterD]

Hey guys!

Can't get in touch with my library's contacts, Their website is down, emails don't get a reply, and phone calls don't go to any answering machine ...

If the company has truly folded (I'm still trying to find that out), what happens to my music that I've signed exclusively with them?

I would hope I get it all back, no??

Thanks for your answers!!

[jdstamper]

Wow, I think this could be a deep topic. A few ideas, just my opinion ...

I think somehow you need to find out what really happened ... did they go out of business, restructuring, were they bought by another company ...? Also your contract might have some provisions for some of these circumstances.

I have at least 1 contract that does spell out that music reverts back to me if the company goes out of business.

If the company has gone under, and has not sold the music to another library, I would try to get something in writing from the owner that releases the music back to you. If you can't get a response, you might even need to get legal help to get it done.

I hope everything works out OK with this! Jim

[PeterD]

Thanks Jim!

As of today, I'm in contact with a guy who used to work for them (also has music in their catalog). He said he'll definitely look into in further, since he's now also curious.

One of the contacts at the library has a LinkedIn profile. In it there's NO mention of having worked for that library. Also, the woman who owns it is not returning any of my inquires.

They actually contacted me around a year ago via my LinkedIn page and asked if I'd like to submit material. They were a brand new boutique-style company at the time, and not even officially up and running, but would be in March, 2014. I thought that was THE PERFECT time to get in, since the competition might be easy. I signed about 15 scary underscores with them exclusively.

Nowhere in the contract does it say anything about if/when something like this happens. There's just a section about if a party breached the agreement, etc. Pretty general. Not returning my calls/emails isn't exactly a breach, but if they have failed as a company and up n left, that very well could be. I even asked them if I could point a music supervisor in their direction to see if it would be OK for him to use my material there. I still haven't heard back from them and had to forget about those songs. It's a good thing he was willing to take others. Still ... I left 15 songs on the table that could have been placed. The library and I would have benefited (thanks to my leg work).

Ultimately, I just want the songs back. That should be an easy to fulfill request, no?

I hope to have more answers in the coming days.
Stay tuned ...

[shanegrla]

Hey Peter,
Did you ever get any resolution on this? I'm kind of curious about this sort of situation myself. Not from personal experience yet luckily, but just thinking ahead.

[PeterD]

Shane,

I did not.

People gave their 2 cents, in the form of - move on and don't worry about it. I'm still yet to hear back from this particular library. I've been emailing them for over 3 months trying to get anything.

I tried to send a music supe in their direction for some music he was looking for, but he didn't want to bother with them. Not sure if there was a hidden message in there, or if he just didn't want to deal with library "red tape."

I'm still working on it though ... The good news is, I won't be sending THEM any more music.

[shanegrla]

Wow, sorry to hear that! Kinda scary.

Be sure to let us know if you ever do.

Shane

[TheElement]

Hey Peter, if a company goes out of business I'm thinking any contracts they may have signed under their company name would now be void. Since now the company does not exist anymore.

[shanegrla]

Hey Peter, if a company goes out of business I'm thinking any contracts they may have signed under their company name would now be void. Since now the company does not exist anymore.

Yes, I would think so too, unless the company (or its contracts) is bought out by/sold to another company.

[TheElement]

Hey Peter, if a company goes out of business I'm thinking any contracts they may have signed under their company name would now be void. Since now the company does not exist anymore.

Yes, I would think so too, unless the company (or its contracts) is bought out by/sold to another company.

Good point.

[Russell Landwehr]

Hey Peter, if a company goes out of business I'm thinking any contracts they may have signed under their company name would now be void. Since now the company does not exist anymore.

Yes, I would think so too, unless the company (or its contracts) is bought out by/sold to another company.

It would be EXTREMELY difficult to find out if either one of those scenarios actually happened.
If the company signed the songs EXCLUSIVELY and a writer mistakenly thought: the company went out of business and the contracts weren't bought by another company...
Then the writer signed the songs to another company on this mistaken assumption.... there would be a world of trouble.

Russell