$50 per Instrumental Cue for an EXCLUSIVE deal?

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DesireInspires
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$50 per Instrumental Cue for an EXCLUSIVE deal?

Post by DesireInspires » Wed Jan 31, 2018 10:51 am

“This Company pays $50 per Instrumental Cue for an EXCLUSIVE deal in which they get 100% of the Publisher’s share, and you’ll get 100% of the Writer’s share. When placements generate sync fees over $1,000, additional income will be paid to the composer. You must own or control 100% of your Master and Copyright.”


Why would someone sell their copyright for $50? And why is there not a 50/50 split between the library and the composer?

Whose to say that the library will ever get over $1000 for a sync fee? If they do, the composer only gets the total over $1000. So a fee of $1250 would put $1000 in the pocket of the library and have only $250 left for the composer.

Others may disagree, but this sounds like a raw deal for members to me.

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Re: $50 per Instrumental Cue for an EXCLUSIVE deal?

Post by mikehamm123 » Wed Jan 31, 2018 2:13 pm

I thought the same, however newbies can't be so choosey when they are building up their credits.
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Re: $50 per Instrumental Cue for an EXCLUSIVE deal?

Post by stevebarden » Wed Jan 31, 2018 3:14 pm

Are you saying that you usually get more than $50 in all your other library deals??? I doubt it.

This may surprise you, but there are not that many libraries that pay upfront for tracks. It is fairly common these day to sign away tracks for no fee whatsoever.

Also, sync license splits vary from library to library. 50/50 is the most common situation, but in the case of blanket licenses it is likely you will receive NO share.

I'm not saying that this is the preferred way to go, but rather what the industry is offering these days.

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Re: $50 per Instrumental Cue for an EXCLUSIVE deal?

Post by DesireInspires » Wed Jan 31, 2018 3:23 pm

stevebarden wrote:Are you saying that you usually get more than $50 in all your other library deals??? I doubt it.

This may surprise you, but there are not that many libraries that pay upfront for tracks. It is fairly common these day to sign away tracks for no fee whatsoever.

Also, sync license splits vary from library to library. 50/50 is the most common situation, but in the case of blanket licenses it is likely you will receive NO share.

I'm not saying that this is the preferred way to go, but rather what the industry is offering these days.

Sad state of affairs for the industry.

Once streaming takes over, backend payments will tank. So no upfront money and minuscule backend. SMH.

I’d rather keep my songs and work to exploit the copyrights instead of handing them over for magic beans.

$50 for the copyright and virtually no sync fees? Yikes!

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Re: $50 per Instrumental Cue for an EXCLUSIVE deal?

Post by admin » Wed Jan 31, 2018 3:34 pm

I agree with Steve Barden, and that's why we're running listings for that company.

1) The company's owner signed TAXI members when he owned a different company 10 years ago, and those members got a lot of placements.

2) The vast majority of libraries don't give you ANYTHING up front. How many cues have you already signed for NO money up front?

3) The vast majority of cues in libraries won't even earn $50, so by getting $50 up front, you've probably come out ahead.

4) The 80/20 rule applied to musicians' catalogs and music libraries in general statistically means that 80% of the income will come from 20% of the music. Therefore, you've got an 80% chance that a piece of music will earn very little to nothing, even when signed to a library. Not to say that you won't EARN income, but that most of your income will come from 20% of your music. Yes, you COULD have a piece of music that MIGHT beat those odds, but that will likely be the exception, and not the rule.

5) As many of our more experienced members have told me about these listings, "You could just pass on that deal and submit to other listings." True enough!

6) As for the $1,000 threshold: How many times have you ever received a sync fee when you've had an instrumental cue used? The vast majority of ALL cues are used in reality TV today, and those rarely pay ANY sync fees. The number of times this deal will "screw" you out of making money on a sync fee (in my opinion) is really small.

Hope that helps,
Michael

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Re: $50 per Instrumental Cue for an EXCLUSIVE deal?

Post by DesireInspires » Wed Jan 31, 2018 3:41 pm

I think the deal will work for some. But it leans heavily in the favor of the music library. A 50/50 split seems more appealing, although that may be 50% of zero in a lot of cases. Gotta roll the dice I guess!

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Re: $50 per Instrumental Cue for an EXCLUSIVE deal?

Post by Casey H » Wed Jan 31, 2018 5:15 pm

Just to add...

Look back on all the instrumental cues you've placed in libraries over the years. What has been the AVERAGE lifetime earnings been per cue, taking to account that some get placed, some never do, some get placed but earn very little, some do better, etc? More than $50?

Obviously, not all deals are right for everyone. But to say this is a "raw deal" is just plain wrong.

Also, how many people sign their cues to exclusive/forever deals with no money upfront and backend-only revenue? Those deals are quite common. The bigger decision point for a deal like this (all other things being OK) is whether or not you are comfortable signing cues exclusively forever. The $50 upfront is actually gravy-- good gravy in your favor.

Again, not saying this deal will be right for everyone. You don't have to submit and/or you don't have to sign if contacted. Just please don't call it a "raw deal".

:D Casey

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Re: $50 per Instrumental Cue for an EXCLUSIVE deal?

Post by DesireInspires » Wed Jan 31, 2018 5:40 pm

Casey H wrote:The $50 upfront is actually gravy-- good gravy in your favor.
More like gruel to me.

But you are correct. The deal is not for me and others should not feel bad to accept it. It is beneficial for many other composers. It will help advance the careers of some Taxi members.

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Re: $50 per Instrumental Cue for an EXCLUSIVE deal?

Post by Kolstad » Thu Feb 01, 2018 1:13 am

"Raw deal" may not be the right label for the listing, but it did describe the feelings an experienced member like DesireeInspires got from recieving it. Others mentioned that it may not be for more experienced members, so it may be more fair to say that the library should expect music from newer and less credited members when briefing like that (sure, that can still be good music).

I understand the defence from a business point of view, but many of us see the offers being pushed more and more, and would just like to voice out the concern for a coherent trade-off between the work and the investments that goes into music production and the anticipated returns.

If those concerns are not allowed a voice, the libraries can recieve no feedback on their efforts (maybe other than the submissions), which can become a problem at their end as well.

So, mincing words about the "right" label or not, the OP still seems to express an honest reaction to the business (as evidenced by the listing). I don't see why this should be controversial? It's business talk.
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Re: $50 per Instrumental Cue for an EXCLUSIVE deal?

Post by Casey H » Thu Feb 01, 2018 5:08 am

Magne, do you work much in the reality TV instrumental cue space? We are not talking vocal songs here!! :!: Many people here work in that space and (1) A lot of the libraries are exclusive (or changed to exclusive). (2) Virtually NONE of these placements pay upfront or sync, not matter how experienced you are. It's all back end.

What makes me laugh is if this listing simply said an exclusive library was looking for instrumental cues for reality TV shows, no one would have batted an eyelash! :roll: They would have submitted, signed deals, and hopefully got placements. Those placements would have earned back end only income since there are no syncs in that arena. Sometimes the back end is really good such as on shows like The Kardashians, Catfish, etc. Other times, just coffee money. But because the listing says $50 upfront and no split of sync unless over $1000 (which probably doesn't exist anyway), people have their underpants in a knot.

The other thing to keep in mind that at this point you are just SUBMITTING TO A LISTING. If you get a forward and a contact, you can start a dialogue with this party and see how you feel about working with them at that point. Knowing who the person is, what the company's track record is, what their plans are going forward, etc. can tell you a lot.

Best
:D Casey

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