Huge placement but the company demands royalty-free use!?

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bothemusicguy
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Huge placement but the company demands royalty-free use!?

Post by bothemusicguy » Mon Mar 02, 2015 1:56 pm

Hi guys, I'm in a bit a of quandary here. A video game company with a track record of huge sales and downloads is nearing completing of its new mobile music game (think Rock Band/Guitar Hero/Dance Central for the phone). One of its staff members follows me on SoundCloud. This staff member referred my stuff to the CEO, who then reached out to me to use my tracks in the game. As the title of this post suggests, he has asked for royalty- and payment-free use of my songs in exchange of exposure to their customers (each of their games get millions of actual downloads). I was really excited about it, but the more I thought about it the more I feel insulted by this. I just talked to him on the phone this morning and asked for even just a small nominal percentage of royalties, but it became a take-it-or-leave-it situation as I'm sure other musicians would jump at this opportunity in a heartbeat.

What would you do in this situation?

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Re: Huge placement but the company demands royalty-free use!

Post by Cruciform » Wed Mar 04, 2015 2:35 pm

The only thing you get from exposure is a cold.

Royalty free is fairly common for gaming but only if there is a decent to large sync fee. If there is no sync fee, no royalties and no tangible way to get paid from this usage, I can't see any upside for you. Yes, there will always be another hungry muso/composer willing to do it for 'exposure'. There's nothing you can do about that. The only thing you can do is value your own music. If you don't, they certainly won't and if you decide to do it for free, you will become the 'free guy'. You would find it even more difficult to get paid from them next time.

If they want your music for free and are already generating good revenues from their products, they are telling you that your music does not add enough value to their product for them to bother paying you. Think about that.

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Re: Huge placement but the company demands royalty-free use!

Post by ceedub » Wed Mar 04, 2015 4:49 pm

It's OK to walk away.

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Re: Huge placement but the company demands royalty-free use!

Post by kclements » Wed Mar 04, 2015 5:53 pm

What Rob said.

No deal. If it were me, I'd walk.

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Re: Huge placement but the company demands royalty-free use!

Post by Russell Landwehr » Wed Mar 04, 2015 7:04 pm

I think Rob and Kayle and Cdub read my mind.

Unless there is a significant "buy-out" fee it's not really worth it unless you are an established band with a regional following and looking to capitalize on the (indecent) exposure.

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Re: Huge placement but the company demands royalty-free use!

Post by Russell Landwehr » Wed Mar 04, 2015 7:06 pm

OH!

Welcome to the Forums! :D :D

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Re: Huge placement but the company demands royalty-free use!

Post by mobster85 » Thu Mar 05, 2015 7:31 am

I agree with all of the above. Listen to these folks because they know what they r talking about. Good luck.

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Re: Huge placement but the company demands royalty-free use!

Post by VanderBoegh » Thu Mar 05, 2015 9:37 am

If they want your music for free and are already generating good revenues from their products, they are telling you that your music does not add enough value to their product for them to bother paying you. Think about that.
Absolutely, Rob.

This offer would be insulting. It would be one thing to get an offer like this from an amateur student production who is just trying to turn in a project for a class, but from a big-time company? Come on...

I'm sick of companies and people talking about "exposure" as if you'll reap so many extra benefits from doing free work that you'll more than make up your cost. Truth is, "exposure" doesn't pay the bills, only money does.

If it were me, I'd walk, then laugh.

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Re: Huge placement but the company demands royalty-free use!

Post by guscave » Thu Mar 05, 2015 10:15 am

IMO, Exposure means nothing.
If this company is as big as you say, chances are they will be paying significant up front fees for the rest of the music that will appear on their game, but they may be trying to see what they can get for free.

I would walk away from this type of deal.

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Re: Huge placement but the company demands royalty-free use!

Post by Kolstad » Thu Mar 05, 2015 2:55 pm

I agree with the guys, but the (non)offer put you in a legitimate bargain position, so you can be smarter about it than just turning it down. You can ask, if not money, what kind of compensation will they then be willing to offer. say, if you are new to the gaming market, and want to get into it. Here's some ideas for trade-off's that might be a win-win, depending on your situation..

- they agree to not disclose your agreement to anyone, and you can use them actively as a reference in your own promotion
- they will actively promote you in public, the press, mention your name and music in their marketing material ect. (work out specific details)
- they will provide you with useable quotes that acknowledges and validates your music
- they can use this first track according to your agreement, but the next ones for an agreed fee/contract (that you sign now)
- they will involve you in scoring more of their games (named projects and people), maybe at an earlier stage

Maybe you all can think of more.. But basically, give them what they want, but negotiate the future and make them accountable.
Once they realize it's more of a hassle to get free music, maybe they will decide just to pay you instead.
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