CONTRACT

[Raincoat]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this, and I'm writing from abroad in Europe. I'd like to hear from someone who has closed a deal. How do exclusive and non-exclusive contracts work? In addition to the percentage, are there also upfront cash payments, and if so, could you provide me with a range.

Thank you

[cosmicdolphin]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this, and I'm writing from abroad in Europe. I'd like to hear from someone who has closed a deal. How do exclusive and non-exclusive contracts work? In addition to the percentage, are there also upfront cash payments, and if so, could you provide me with a range.

Thank you

Hi - Also in Europe here

Usually whatever you're offered will be the standard terms for that library so it will be a case of " take it or leave it " i.e. there won't usually be any room for negotiatin as all the writers are on the same deal in my experience.

The typical scenario is 50-50 : so you would keep 100% of the writers share, and the library would keep 100% of the publishers share of any backend royalties generated. This usually applies to any Sync Fees ( one off licence amounts for special usage ) although they are rarer unless you're writing tailer music or songs that may get placed in Film or Advertising. You typically won't get sync fees for instrumental cues in catalogues dealing mainly with reality TV etc. which makes up the vast majority of the music used.

So basically on a typical deal if you make a Euro, they make a Euro. Beware of anything less than this 50-50 split and look into it carefully, some libraries do take a % of the writers share which many musicians don't agree with but it depends on the circumstances. Sometimes it can still work out benficial long term if it generates a lot of placements.

Unless you're very experienced and well connected it's pretty unlikey that you will get anything on upfront, although I have personally received $100 per track as an upfront fee some years back I had to give away some writers share of those tracks. Up front payments used to be to cover recording costs and now we all record at home it's pretty much gone away.

It's very hard to make money with library music, however a few people I know have done really well at it. A combination of great music, great work ethic and bring in the right place at the right time seem to be part of the recipe for success. Most of the rest of us have taken the slower more gradual path and the are many who persist despite struggling to get even so much as a Taxi Forward let alone a libray contract or TV placement.

I have documented my jourey over the past 7yrs and will post my 8th year update in a couple of months. This is not to say your journey will be the same but just to provide some transparency which is somewhat lacking in this game.

seven-year-update-t150215.html

Mark

[Raincoat]

Thank you very much for your comprehensive explanation; it was exactly what I was looking for. Let's just say that if I had some doubts about joining Taxi before, now my uncertainty is even greater. I'm not questioning their professionalism, but it seems that, in the end, the earnings are not that great. It appears more like something to do as a hobby in one's spare time. We are a large professional studio with several in-house producers, and we were looking to expand our earning potential, but it seems that the Libraries system here is quite slow and labor-intensive with meager returns. What are your thoughts on this?"

[crashgates]

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[cosmicdolphin]

Just wondering do major artists from major labels get the same sort of royalites/sync deals if their music is used verses your music being used?
and I guess if not why not? like are they on some special rate?

I was under the impression the networks pay a blanket licence fee to the PRO's to use whatever they want

It depends

If you're a known artist and someone wants to licence your song into a big movie then it will be a big @$$ sync fee and the artist gets the same back end as everyone else but likely a lot more because of the number of eyes on the project.

If you're an unknown Taxi or independant artist that's written a great song but that nobody has heard of, you will likely be offered a lot less than a famous artist to be placed in the same project. Even if it's the same spot.

As a famous example is the Rolling Stones ' Start Me Up ' was licensed for Win 95 by Microsoft which went for $3m and was the first time the Stones had ever licensed a song into a TV Ad campaign. So a huge up front payment but any PRS backend royalties generated would be at the same rate as any other PRS member.

I don't know about outside the Uk but the BBC pay a blanket licence to PRS so they can use famous music without paying a sync fee or broadcast coverage of Glastonbury without having to negoiate with every artist on the stage. Remember though that the BBC is the national broadcaster, they are funded by the TV licence so there are no ads on the BBC.

https://radiotoday.co.uk/2021/10/prs-fo ... nationally.

Mark

[cosmicdolphin]

Thank you very much for your comprehensive explanation; it was exactly what I was looking for. Let's just say that if I had some doubts about joining Taxi before, now my uncertainty is even greater. I'm not questioning their professionalism, but it seems that, in the end, the earnings are not that great. It appears more like something to do as a hobby in one's spare time. We are a large professional studio with several in-house producers, and we were looking to expand our earning potential, but it seems that the Libraries system here is quite slow and labor-intensive with meager returns. What are your thoughts on this?"

Yes it is slow, it's usually a business you have to build up over a number of years and probably more suited to part time gig work than someone needing to ramp up relatively quickly to full time income. People do manage that too though, I'm just not one of them even though I've worked hard and stuck at it longer than most.

There might be a couple of other options. If you are producing songs with artists then they can release them and also get them placed with a Sync Agent. Someone who knows what songs are in their roster of artists and goes looking for sync opportunites and takes a cut if they get anything. This is better suited to someone who has a lot of songs and is more focused on the artist side.

I also know someone who used to live round the corner as kids who now owns an 8 studio complex in Thailand and produces tracks for some huge brands. They work directly with Ad Agencies etc and he makes most of the income from Sync Fees. Probably a tough one to crack but you keep all the income.

Personally I am playing the long game and building it up as a retirement income which is 14yrs away if I retire at normal age. There is a very long tail to someof these TV royalties as they get repeated and make their way around the world and into syndication if you're lucky.

If you read my 7yr update , with one more quarter left this year it's looking like I'll earn around double my 2022 total. Still not huge but starting to pay more bills.

Mark

[crashgates]

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[Casey H]

Since we are all unknown writers, not The Rolling Stones or Taylor Swift, it's pretty irrelevant what those stars can command. If one us became THAT successful, I think it would be fair to say we wouldn't be submitting to Taxi and having this discussion on their forum.

"Blanket licensing" when it comes to libraries and their clients refers to the library offering access to a large catalog of songs for one fee. Some libraries share a portion of the fee with the composers, some do not. But even if they do, it would be a small amount. You can consider these 0 sync fee deals. With these deals, the money is in the back-end PRO which as nothing to do with that blanket, it's a matter of how often, when, where it broadcasts, etc. That back end however can be lucrative if your track gets used on a popular reality TV show such as Catfish, Kardashians, etc.

My own experience is you don't see this as much with vocal songs as with instrumental cues where it's very common. And the majority of instrumental cue placements do not have any upfront sync fee. Vocal songs can often earn a sync fee, but not always. MY network TV placements upfront sync fees have varied from $0 to $1000. I had one $3K deal with 2 co-writers. The publisher gets 50% of those fees and the writer's share is split among co-writers. (Others may have had bigger ones). There are larger deals out there-- major ad campaigns, etc. and I know some Taxi members who have landed them- even $10-$20K. But realistically, in today's market, very large sync fees only come a long once in a while. Back end from a large number of placements is where the majority of income comes from. Reruns are our friend.

This is not a get rich quick business by any means. The folks I know who make 5 or 6 figures did it by incredibly hard work over 5-10 years, building up hundreds or even 1000 cues in libraries.

Cosmicdolphin, who works very hard at this, has documented his journey with respect to cues out there and money made. It's all on this forum.

[crashgates]

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[cosmicdolphin]

Ok so correct me if I am reading you correctly.The sync fee is to intice you to produce/offer/make available and will vary from artist to artist and can vary from zero to the sky

Yes ..theorectical scenario : a CosmicDolphin song in a movie might get offered a $5k sync fee...a song by Depeche Mode in the same movie might attract a $50k sync fee because it's much more well known , can bring an audience with it, has much more cred/cachet than an unknown middle aged sync artist from a smll English village. I can probably count on one hand how many extra moviegoers will buy a movie ticket because my song is in it. Famous bands bring a lot more to the table so they get paid more.

Why would anyone pay both a blanket fee as a tv station and a sync fee to use something in an ad thats broadcast on that station unless they have to pay both

A blanket fee would cover the catalogue of a production music library which might include tracks by people like me & Casey and other Taxi members but it doesn't usually include famous bands/songs in that catalogue. Just stuff written by people doing production music or maybe unknown/indie artists. If you want a famous song you normally have to approach the publisher for a quote. Even then many bands have power of veto as they may not want their own 'brand' associated with certain things. For example if I was famous I would never want my music used in anything religious as I'm an atheist.

The people making TV Ads are not the same people as making the TV shows. TV shows are made by production companies and the production comanies use tons of music so they buy the blanket licence. Ads are usually put together by Ad agencies on behalf of their client and will do their own music searches or send out the brief to publisher to see what comes back. As there is usually quite a big budget in advertising the music budget is higher so they afford to pay a good whack for the perfect track. I

Backend royalities is more egalitarian so to speak ie everyone gets the same for a set placement, or does other factors like artist recognition/viewership/audience size/colour of their hair /other/etc etc come into the equation, not exaclty clear how that all works too

No, it's the same for everyone but obviously famous artists get infintely more air time with their music so everything is multiplied