fair compensation

[nomiyah]

My Mom wrote a song that someone wants to record on a CD. They asked her to come up with what is fair compensation. They're willing to pay some amount per CD but want us to tell them how much. It will be used in therapy for children with disabilities so we don't want to ask too much. Any ideas? Thanks.Nomi

[matto]

I think you would need more information. Where, how, how many etc of these CD's are they gonna sell and for how much?Are they selling them for profit or is it some kind of a charitable deal? Are they looking to pay a flat license fee or a royalty for every CD sold?

[nomiyah]

It's a small time deal, probably 1000 CDs or so. It isn't a charitable venture but not purely business either. They offered a royalty per CD but would probably consider a license fee if we asked for it. They definitely want to use it and my mom wants them to so it's just a matter of what is a fair amount for one song on a CD. What do you think?

[nomiyah]

PS, they'll be distributing the CD through therapy work they are already doing. They will also do small time distribution on the internet, maybe other therapists, internet, etc. It's an amateur production so no high budget.

[Casey H]

Hi NomiI once allowed a song to be sold on a charity CD and took no money at all for mechanicals or CD sales. I maintained publishing. They registered the song as publisher under a different title, so supposedly it there ever were any performance royalties, they could collect them for the charity and not interfere with my future usages. However, I don' t think this works well for airplay as it does for film/TV placements. For the latter, there can be control over the cue sheets. With radio play, it probably would be hard to track and I noticed that the song title on the CD is no different than my original. If there is airplay from the charity CD, I am happy for the charity to have all the performance royalties. My only concern would be if something happens with the song later, through my own efforts- e.g. it gets in film/TV... could their registration and mine get confused making me lose royalties.So, all this being said I would make sure they use the track under a different title altogether. She can then decide if she wants any compensation. Standard mechanicals right now are 9.1 cents per song per CD. That would be $91 for 1000 CDs, nothing to get rich on. Your Mom could ask them to sign a mechanical license agreement stipulating that for the first 1000 CDs, mechanicals are waived and after that the statutory rate AT THAT TIME kicks in (it goes up from time to time). Since the title would be unique, they could register the title as the publisher and collect performance royalties for the charity.BTW, when someone wants to record your song, THEY should be the ones presenting YOU with a mechanical license agreement. Then, you should have an entertainment attorney review it. Am I making sense? I have a head cold. Feel free to call or email me for more explanation if needed. Casey

[matto]

Casey brings up some good points.Some additional questions I would ask is how much the CD's are gonna sell for, and how many songs will be on them.Also, a big question, are they going to use your mom's recording of the song, or is some other "artist" going to record it?Cause the mechanicals only cover the song itself (writer and publisher), artist royalties would be on top of that.

[Casey H]

Quote:Casey brings up some good points.Some additional questions I would ask is how much the CD's are gonna sell for, and how many songs will be on them.Also, a big question, are they going to use your mom's recording of the song, or is some other "artist" going to record it?Cause the mechanicals only cover the song itself (writer and publisher), artist royalties would be on top of that.Yes, I did forget to think about CD sales $$ and any artist royalties. If your Mom is feeling very charitable she could donate any artist royalties (assuming it is her performance). To cover herself in case the CD sells like hotcakes, she could agree to take no artist royalties on the first 2500 (or some number) of sold copies and if more than that, some agreed upon percentage. Not being an artist, I am not familiar with what a typical artist royalty per song is. But I'm sure Matto or someone here knows... Casey

[nomiyah]

They are recording their own version. The song has already been professionally recorded by another artist. Nobody has exclusive rights so we can do what we want with it in the future.Does 9.1 cover writer royalties only? Or is a combination of writer and publisher royalties?I doubt there will be any performance royalties as this is a small-time venture. The reason they asked us to figure out what we want is that they have no idea what they are doing. They aren't in the music business, they are in therapy but have been using the song informally and now want to put it on a CD with some other healing songs.I appreciate the input, Matt and Casey.Nomi

[horacejesse]

Is it a vocal or instrumental?

[Casey H]

Quote:They are recording their own version. The song has already been professionally recorded by another artist. Nobody has exclusive rights so we can do what we want with it in the future.Does 9.1 cover writer royalties only? Or is a combination of writer and publisher royalties?I doubt there will be any performance royalties as this is a small-time venture. The reason they asked us to figure out what we want is that they have no idea what they are doing. They aren't in the music business, they are in therapy but have been using the song informally and now want to put it on a CD with some other healing songs.I appreciate the input, Matt and Casey.NomiHi Nomi OK, as a non-artist, the only royalties that apply are mechanical and performance royalties.The 9.1 cents is the total, split between publisher and writer. Is your Mom, herself, the publisher? Is the song registered with anyone as publisher? If there is no outside publisher, you should quickly register the song , in it's current title, with you or Mom as publisher (Don't you already have a publishing company with ASCAP or BMI?... If not you can still register yourself as publisher) Now, about the performance royalties... If Mom wants to donate the publisher's share of performance royalties for that usage to the charity, she can allow them to register it under a different title (and use THAT title on their CD!) with Mom as writer and them as publisher. Even though they are clueless, you or Mom could (if she wants) help them sign up with ASCAP or BMI and do that. She would still receive the writer's share of any performance royalties and, if she wants, she could donate them back to the charity.Even though you said you did not expect there to be any performance royalties of significance, it's better to protect yourself.I didn't do this right when I allowed my song to be used and although I didn't get burned (that I know of), I kick myself now for not thinking it through better... especially since it's one of my best songs. Casey