Buyouts

[AlanDonohoe]

I see a number of listings from a company that buys the copyright for $125.

The listing mentions the backend royalties as the 'income stream' but $125 seems excessively low to give up ownership.

Anyone with experience of buyout deals?

[bassman]

Yes I've done a buyout deal once. I don't really like these kind of deals for the simple reason that you will miss out on substantial synch fees if your track gets placed. Having said that I did a buyout deal once as an experiement and it's too early to say how is pans out.
$125 would be too low for me.

Some composers take the viewpoint that any placement is better than no placement and it makes a lot of sense if your write a lot of music and it's a style which you can do fairly easily and quickly. Some composers also put forward an argument that publishers are more likely to push a track they own. Personally I am not so sure. The tracks I've earned the most from have been 50/50 split on synch fees.

I am undecided. I think buyouts need to be reviewed on case by case. It's unlikely I'll do another of these deals though.

[AlanDonohoe]

From what I've read about the gaming market, the buyouts work at $500 per minute as an average; more if the composer has clout. That's a lot more attractive.

[mazz]

The game market is an entirely different animal. It's like breaking into the film business. Plus the work is scoring, not writing library tracks.

Game is a buyout, no one that works on a game gets back end. It's a different business.

[AlanDonohoe]

I take your point on the breaking-in part. I suppose it's not really valid to compare the two.

Mazz, what's your opinion on buyouts in the library market?

[guitarhacker]

If you have no placements... it is a resume builder.... as time goes on and you write more, and get more cuts, you can pick the deals you sign.

I heard Willie Nelson sold all the rights to his first few songs for $500.... a nice sum back in the day but obviously a bad deal, but he was just getting started.

[mojobone]

Buyout is a slightly misleading (though common) term; if you're being offered back end, most likely this is a needle-drop library that does blanket licensing. You still own your copyright and either split the back end with the publisher/library, or they take an annual fee from the end users for access to their entire catalog and you get all the back end. Matto can explain this better than I can....for the end user, it's a sort of all-you-can-eat pricing.