Is this a fair deal?

[Cruciform]

Disclaimer: I own a boutique library.

I don't think it's a fair deal at all. As Magne has mentioned, there can be cases where the only money from a placement is the up-front.

Also, as the amount of placements on tv grows faster than the revenue, than the per-placement royalties will continue to decline.
At this stage, royalties from streaming uses (ie. Netflix, etc) is only a fraction of broadcast usage and will probably never grow to the same
amount.

So, signing away synch splits is alarming. My suspicion is that a library like this will either be doing blanket deals with production companies
(in which case, the library is being paid for the use of your music but you are not, because very few libraries share blankets), or giving
their library usage away gratis to rely on the royalty income. In terms of revenue growth this model currently has a very bleak outlook moving forward.

Secondly, such libraries will also often do deals with a production company where the company will insist on not only not paying for the music, but
will require the publisher's share of royalties to be signed over to them. That means they are getting paid to use your music! Since the library will
still want income there is now only one place to turn to - the writer's share of royalties. They will now want 50% of the writer's share.

In these cases, you might still make a lot of money if your music is placed frequently in a production and the show is syndicated widely. But in doing so you're still accepting the slow erosion
of composer value and income that affects everyone in return for short-term gains.

[SteveBaruah]

Hi Ethan,

Good point! It's for instrumentals


Cheers,
Steve

[SteveBaruah]

Great points, Rob. Thanks for the insights.

[guscave]

Here’s my 2 cents regarding sync/upfront deals. I work with two libraries whose deals include 50% sync payments. Both of these libraries contribute to the majority of my back-end royalties, which has grown at a nice regular pace. However one of those libraries has never paid me any sync fee and the other has only paid me once in 5 years.

I’ve also seen a decrease in money from royalty free sites (which pay per each license sold). I use to get about $300 a month from RF libraries, now I’m lucky if I get $50. Even though I still upload new material each month, I’m just not seeing results that are worth the time.

So, I’ve reached the point where my main focus is in working with libraries that do well in getting me PRO royalties. If they provide sync payment, great. But for me that's just icing on the cake and not a deal breaker.

BTW, regarding sharing writers share with library. That's a big No! No! for me.

[SteveBaruah]

Thanks for sharing the info!
Much appreciated!