Anyone ever regret agreeing to a Work For Hire?

[sabalsounds]

Work For Hire, in this case, means a library pays you small dollars for songs that you relinquish all rights to the songs (master, publisher, writer) for the upfront money.

Would you A) take the money and run and go write more (potentially) better songs or B) try to negotiate performance rights, or C) pass on the offer and try to get the songs signed elsewhere?

Curious to hear opinions as well as anyone who has actually faced this dilemma.

Money in exchange for music is usually a good problem to have

[hummingbird]

I was under the impression that a Work for Hire did not mean you didn't receive performance royalties, but I could be wrong.

I think you have to look at the potential earnings of that particular piece and ask whether the upfront money properly compensates you for the royalties you might lose if it was signed elsewhere. Let's say the track IF signed and IF placed in a syndicated cable tv show sometime in the next two years, could possibly earn you $10 a quarter for the following 10 years... that's $400. Of course a hit show might pay more, but what are the chances for that track to make it over that bar?

If this is a situation where they asked you to provide a piece of music as a work for hire and you have written it and now are questioning yourself, IMO it would be bad form to back out now unless they changed something in the initial agreement.

Your tracks are like children, you have to decide how they will work best to support you in your old age

But this is all opinion, I could be totally out to lunch.

[sabalsounds]

Hi Vikki - you got to the core of my question. Thanks!

[guscave]

I've done a couple of work for hire, but as a rule, I make sure I "ALWAYS" keep the writer's share. Sometimes the back-end royalties can add up way more than what you get upfront. Especially if it's a show with a lot of re-runs.

[sabalsounds]

Thx guscave! Makes perfect sense

[Paulie]

Try to keep your rights, you never know. Barry Manilow used to work for hire long ago before he was famous. Three of the jingles he wrote for hire:

• "Like a good neighbor State Farm is there."
• "I am stuck on the bandaid brand cuz the bandaid's stuck on me."
• "You deserve a break today, at McDonalds."

Younger folks on the board might not recognize any of these, but they were some of the most popular jingles of my childhood.

[VanderBoegh]

To me, it depends on how much you need the money RIGHT NOW. I recently did some Work-for-Hire cues where I got a nice chunk of upfront money, but in turn gave up 50% of my writer's share for royalties. Only time will tell if that was a smart decision, but knowing I was about to have a baby made this an easy decision for me. Diapers can't wait 1-2 years to be purchased. So I jumped all over the upfront money because I needed it right away.

Life situations often dictate the course of your decisions, for better or worse. There's only a right and wrong answer in hindsight.

~~Matt

[sabalsounds]

Try to keep your rights, you never know. Barry Manilow used to work for hire long ago before he was famous. Three of the jingles he wrote for hire:

• "Like a good neighbor State Farm is there."
• "I am stuck on the bandaid brand cuz the bandaid's stuck on me."
• "You deserve a break today, at McDonalds."

Younger folks on the board might not recognize any of these, but they were some of the most popular jingles of my childhood.

Manilow also didn't write "I Write The Songs"

[eeoo]

Only work for hire I've done was for a nice little chunk of change upfront but I kept 100% of my writer's share of royalties. I've made good money on the back end as well so this particular deal has been great for me. I personally would not give up the backend unless you were getting a large amount upfront.

eo

[sabalsounds]

Thanks everyone for the replies! It's one thing to understand conceptually the ins and outs of the music biz until it's our own creativity that is being valued