Transfer of copyright ownership?

[Cruciform]

Pat: you're welcome. Good luck whatever you decide.

Peter: cheers

[patpal]

Thanks!

[mojobone]

Depending on the ultimate placement(s), you could end up making quite a bit of money from the back end on some kinds of buyout deals. The key is in the size of the library's catalog and the kinds of placements they're getting. Try browsing their website as a buyer and see if you can make determinations about the quality of their catalog in your genre and others. Most libraries that are getting the huge placements tend to brag about it somewhere on their site, but be careful; pretty much anybody can copypaste a broadcaster or show's logo into their website, and not all placements are moneymakers. Trailers, web ads and promos, the money should be on the front end, because cue sheets don't generally get filed and they seldom get detected, otherwise.

You may be able to contact some of their writers (independently, not at their suggestion) to see what's up. If their placements are mostly in independently-produced Youtube wedding videos, you're unlikely to see much return, if any. (though you never really know what might go viral) If they're routinely getting high-end broadcast TV placements, it could be a very good deal for you. If their catalog isn't freely available for the public to hear, it might mean they deal directly with producers, so I wouldn't dismiss the offer out of hand, but as others have said, an exclusive buyout with no upfront fee should make you wary.