Copyright

[DavidH]

Hi all, I have been a Taxi member for a few months, and been fortunate enough to receive some forwards, and this week I was over the moon to receive a contract from a Music Library wishing to take on my track. It is an EDM song with Middle East instruments, and the library have said they are delighted with it, and want me to produce more more more.
This is where the story changes.
The contract sent through states that I relinquish 100% copyright in perpetuity. Effectively this means I no longer own the music.
My question is, I don't know much about the music library, except that, for no guarantee of any return, and for no upfront payment, I would have to hand over all ownership, even if they do or don't place the music.

I'm no authority on the music business, but that seems completely unreasonable. It is a one-sided agreement. I'm considering asking if the copyright could revert back to me after 2 years, the writer, if they don't sell or provide me with any income. I'm still happy to provide 'exclusivity', in this period. - This seems reasonable to me?

My dilemma is how could I continue to write music on the basis that some return may (or may not) happen further down the line. Meanwhile they own valuable copyright, of mine and potentially many of other artists , which of course becomes a catalogue for the library, that is likely to be hugely valuable in its own right.

I'm thinking about how to proceed and wondered if anyone has any thoughts on this?
Many thanks. David

[gitanosoy]

Hi David,

I have signed a few compositions over to a library with via Taxi and personal...It is up to you but I would sign and build a relationship and write another one unless you are somehow really attached to you composition and it means a lot to you and maybe you want to put out an album and include this track on it..I don't know, all I can say that the whole point of this is to get forwards and get an interest from a library which many don't get the opportunity to do so.

If it just stays in you computer then that's as far as it goes.If you want to offer your counter deal to them which by the way I think it's fair you can but be ready for the out come.

Yes I do have compositions that I keep for myself and not even put it on social media and are saved for an album.

Good luck.

[DavidH]

...

Hey David

Sorry, I don't want to be mean and I am not a lawyer, but I think this topic has been discussed over and over again on TAXI TV and on here, and if you don't take the contract offered by a TAXI-vetted company, we will get more and more of these lines which have been very present in recent listings (this is from a current one):

Also, this company is only interested in signing material from composers who have worked for libraries and licensing companies in the past and understand how standard deals work. If you don't have that experience and you don't know the drill on typical deals, then they politely ask that you don't submit to this request.

But maybe someone who has actually signed a lot of deals (I have not signed a single one) wants to confirm what I write here. I think you will hear something along these lines: Sign it, it is standard to handover the (c). And, no worries, you can always write more similar stuff.

Tom

ok, thank you for your reply

[DavidH]

Hi David,

I have signed a few compositions over to a library with via Taxi and personal...It is up to you but I would sign and build a relationship and write another one unless you are somehow really attached to you composition and it means a lot to you and maybe you want to put out an album and include this track on it..I don't know, all I can say that the whole point of this is to get forwards and get an interest from a library which many don't get the opportunity to do so.

If it just stays in you computer then that's as far as it goes.If you want to offer your counter deal to them which by the way I think it's fair you can but be ready for the out come.

Yes I do have compositions that I keep for myself and not even put it on social media and are saved for an album.

Good luck.

Thanks for the reply. I think i will ask to see if I can get a little movement on the deal. It must be worth at least asking. thanks again.

[ResonantTone]

Little late to the party here, but I would accept the terms and not worry about the copyright/ownership thing. I was worried about the same sort of stuff when I first started workin with libraries... stuff like "what if I sign this away and I get scammed" or "is this really a good deal if I can never get my music back" or even "this one song could be my ticket into production music and I don't want to screw it up by sending it to the wrong library".

The reality is you need to take whatever you can get early on (within reason), and keep working towards more and more opportunities. It's a single piece of music, and if you had something worth picking up this time, that means you can do it again.. and again, and again. Especially with something this specific (Middle Eastern EDM), you're probably not gonna find a lot of other libraries that are lookin for this exact thing, so I'd say yes and not look back. If you push it and start asking for agreement revisions, there is a chance the library either says "No thanks" and moves on, or just doesn't even bother getting back to you if it is not worth their time. It's a harsh reality, but it is what it is.

Andrew

[andygabrys]

Little late to the party here, but I would accept the terms and not worry about the copyright/ownership thing. I was worried about the same sort of stuff when I first started workin with libraries... stuff like "what if I sign this away and I get scammed" or "is this really a good deal if I can never get my music back" or even "this one song could be my ticket into production music and I don't want to screw it up by sending it to the wrong library".

The reality is you need to take whatever you can get early on (within reason), and keep working towards more and more opportunities. It's a single piece of music, and if you had something worth picking up this time, that means you can do it again.. and again, and again. Especially with something this specific (Middle Eastern EDM), you're probably not gonna find a lot of other libraries that are lookin for this exact thing, so I'd say yes and not look back. If you push it and start asking for agreement revisions, there is a chance the library either says "No thanks" and moves on, or just doesn't even bother getting back to you if it is not worth their time. It's a harsh reality, but it is what it is.

Andrew

+1

I agree absolutely.

Here are a couple other things to think about:

1) Reversion clauses can be a good thing in some cases, but the majority of production music may not actually be licensed for 5+ years after signing.

There are a million reasons for this, one of which is the time it takes for a library to continue getting placements while keeping their releases of new material going and interfacing with writers and auditioning and reworking material.

There are certainly cases where a piece written for a specific brief for a specific show can be used the same week its signed as well.

2) A lot of libraries work on an exclusive basis now. This wasn't always the case. To sign exclusively, they assume copyright.

When an exclusive library signs your piece, they can immediately have it represented by a large network of International sub publishers. So you increase the number of markets that your music can be used in. Some foreign nations pay VERY well for placements made directly in foreign shows.

[cosmicdolphin]

My dilemma is how could I continue to write music on the basis that some return may (or may not) happen further down the line.

Welcome to the Sync Licensing business.

This is all standard deal territory. If it's not for you then there are plenty of others willing to take your spot.

Even when it's in a Library the majority of your music won't get placed. It's the old 80-20 rule.

So you can keep 100% of nothing or get 50% of something. Don't treat your cues like some irreplaceable work of art. They are a commodity and can be easily replicated. Just write more.

Mark

[DavidH]

Little late to the party here, but I would accept the terms and not worry about the copyright/ownership thing. I was worried about the same sort of stuff when I first started workin with libraries... stuff like "what if I sign this away and I get scammed" or "is this really a good deal if I can never get my music back" or even "this one song could be my ticket into production music and I don't want to screw it up by sending it to the wrong library".

The reality is you need to take whatever you can get early on (within reason), and keep working towards more and more opportunities. It's a single piece of music, and if you had something worth picking up this time, that means you can do it again.. and again, and again. Especially with something this specific (Middle Eastern EDM), you're probably not gonna find a lot of other libraries that are lookin for this exact thing, so I'd say yes and not look back. If you push it and start asking for agreement revisions, there is a chance the library either says "No thanks" and moves on, or just doesn't even bother getting back to you if it is not worth their time. It's a harsh reality, but it is what it is.

Andrew

+1

I agree absolutely.

Here are a couple other things to think about:

1) Reversion clauses can be a good thing in some cases, but the majority of production music may not actually be licensed for 5+ years after signing.

There are a million reasons for this, one of which is the time it takes for a library to continue getting placements while keeping their releases of new material going and interfacing with writers and auditioning and reworking material.

There are certainly cases where a piece written for a specific brief for a specific show can be used the same week its signed as well.

2) A lot of libraries work on an exclusive basis now. This wasn't always the case. To sign exclusively, they assume copyright.

When an exclusive library signs your piece, they can immediately have it represented by a large network of International sub publishers. So you increase the number of markets that your music can be used in. Some foreign nations pay VERY well for placements made directly in foreign shows.

Thanks everyone for your replies. This is new to me, so it's great to get feedback from experienced musicians.
Here's the track if you want to check it out
https://www.taxi.com/my/artist/songs/06 ... rn-promise

..and onwards to more music making

[VanderBoegh]

It's pretty much standard to sign over the copyright for exclusive music deals.

I've got probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,500'ish tracks signed and in various music catalogs, most of them exclusive. Of those exclusive tracks, guess how many I still have the copyright to? Answer: ZERO. The libraries own the copyrights to everything I've done. And I don't care one iota. I'm in this to make money, not to claim ownership of something when it won't increase your royalties anyway.

My advice would be to not even ask..... doing so will scream "first time library signing" or "newbie" to the library owner. Not that that's a bad thing, as everyone starts somewhere, but this question will raise red flags. And even if it doesn't raise red flags, you'll almost certainly receive a response along the lines of "this is our standard contract, and we don't negotiate. Take it or leave it."

That's my advice, anyway. At the end of the day, you gotta do what you feel is right.

~~Matt

[TonySollazzo]

Hi - yes, this question does come up a lot, does anyone know if there is a faq/table/chart somewhere with a summary?
(note: below is *not* accurate, just a "for example" of what might be helpful)

target	Taxi listing type 	publish	copyright	comment
======	=================	=======	=========	=======
sync  	library or catalog	library	library	not having copyright won't impact payments
sync  	direct-to-supervisor	self   	self   	supervisor may publish as may have own library
artist	artist-seeking-song	artist	self   	if changes required then might share co-writing/copyright
A&R  	agent-seeking-new	agent	agent	the deal with agent/publisher will set terms
self   	(no Taxi listing) 	self   	self   	self-publish or through something like CDBaby to YouTube,Apple