2 Companies, same song, What do I do?

[jonathansorensen]

Hi all,

I was recently contacted by a supervisor at a music publisher in London about a song that I've already placed with a non-exclusive agreement with a strong library here in LA.

Generally speaking, I have a number of placements with the library and I want to nurture that relationship but the London company looks big and I don't want to blow it with them.

Particularly speaking, the LA library has been actively pitching the song that the London library wants. It hasn't been placed yet but . . . Would I be offending LA if London offers me a really good deal on the song and I take the deal?

This is a great problem to have, but, it's really stressing me out.

Help!

Jon

[Casey H]

Hi Jon
Congrats! Good problem to have!

First, Taxi prefers you don't put the library names on the public forum so you may want to edit out the acutal names from your post.

Question: Do you know if the UK based library markets to the same places that the LA one does? If they serve different markets, it's less of an issue.

If their markets overlap, such as they both pitch US network TV shows, I'd stick with the LA library (it's a really solid one!) and let the UK library know the track is no longer avaialble. Ask them if you could write a new, similar track for them if that's something you are capable of.

Good luck!
CAsey

[jonathansorensen]

Hi Jon
Congrats! Good problem to have!

First, Taxi prefers you don't put the library names on the public forum so you may want to edit out the acutal names from your post.

Question: Do you know if the UK based library markets to the same places that the LA one does? If they serve different markets, it's less of an issue.

If their markets overlap, such as they both pitch US network TV shows, I'd stick with the LA library (it's a really solid one!) and let the UK library know the track is no longer avaialble. Ask them if you could write a new, similar track for them if that's something you are capable of.

Good luck!
CAsey

Ok, I have a more specific question. Since the London Company is a publisher, they will probably want an exclusive deal and there will be dollars forthcoming where as the LA library is just a hope. They're pitching the song to some big TV shows but I haven't gotten placement yet.

Would the LA Library understand if I took the money and made an exclusive deal with the London Publisher?


BTW, Casey thanks again. You're my guru this week;-)

[Casey H]

Jon
You can't assume that because a library is exclusive, your chances of placement are necessarily stronger than with a non-exclusive one. It varies all over the board. The LA library you are with has a great track record of placements (I don't know the UK library).

One thing is for sure. You CANNOT sign an exclusive deal while a non-exclusive deal is in place elsewhere. As I think you know, you would have to get the LA library to agree to immediately terminate the contract. They may or may not be willing to do that according to the terms of the contract and their policies. And if they agreed, you might burn a bridge.

My advice is keep your song with the LA Library. Ask the UK one if you can write them a similar track. Your song is already in very good hands.

Good luck!
Casey

[Cruciform]

Jon,

The contract you signed for the LA library states that they will review requests for contract termination due to exclusive offers elsewhere on a case-by-case basis. All you can do is talk to them. However if they are actively pitching your song, you might want to put a lot of weight on that in your decision - especially if they have already placed other songs of yours. That LA lib know what they're doing.

Casey makes a good point, just because London is exclusive does not mean they will get you more placements. I recently had to choose between two libs who wanted the same tracks. In the end I went with the one that had a better track record.

I'd second Casey's advice too. See if London will accept a new track that sounds like the first.

[jonathansorensen]

Jon,

The contract you signed for the LA library states that they will review requests for contract termination due to exclusive offers elsewhere on a case-by-case basis. All you can do is talk to them. However if they are actively pitching your song, you might want to put a lot of weight on that in your decision - especially if they have already placed other songs of yours. That LA lib know what they're doing.

Casey makes a good point, just because London is exclusive does not mean they will get you more placements. I recently had to choose between two libs who wanted the same tracks. In the end I went with the one that had a better track record.

I'd second Casey's advice too. See if London will accept a new track that sounds like the first.

Thank you to both of you for the advice. I think I don't want to sour my relationship to the LA Library. We'll see how it plays out but I'm just going to tell London, it's already been licensed.

I hope I have more problems like this . . . .

Jon

[Cruciform]

Good luck.

[Kolstad]

I'm with Casey,

It's never just about any one track, it's about building professional relationships, so you continuously have somewhere to go with your music. Bottom line is that the music business world wide is pretty small, and they all meet at International conventions like MIDAS ect., so you should respect the deal you made, and try to sell your talents to the UK library. If they like this one, it's likely they will be interested..

[jonathansorensen]

I'm with Casey,

It's never just about any one track, it's about building professional relationships, so you continuously have somewhere to go with your music. Bottom line is that the music business world wide is pretty small, and they all meet at International conventions like MIDAS ect., so you should respect the deal you made, and try to sell your talents to the UK library. If they like this one, it's likely they will be interested..

I'm glad everyone is coming back with the same answer. It's what my long-term instincts tell me. Now if London offers me money, I just have to explain to the wife why I'm not taking it.

Best,
Jon

[jonathansorensen]

Hi all,

I want to thank everyone for weighing in on this. I just had a great conversation with the London based company and believe me, having had some advice prior to the conversation made all the difference in the world. I didn't get nervous because I began to look at it as creating a long term relationship. I was already firm in how we could move forward so I was already prepared with material and what I was going to say.

They were open to it and said if the LA company hasn't done anything with it in 6 months, let's talk about it again. Whihoo!

Thanks everybody!

Jon