A Shift Towards Exclusive.....?

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andygabrys
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Re: A Shift Towards Exclusive.....?

Post by andygabrys » Wed Sep 13, 2017 9:17 pm

SteveBaruah wrote:I don't know if it's so much the ownership as the EXCLUSIVE ownership. Music supervisors must like the fact they are not going to get bombarded with the same cue 7 times.

By definition Steve - a non-exclusive publisher doesn't own anything. Neither does an exclusive who doesn't explicitly transfer your copyright to them (if that even makes sense).

The only ones who "own" anything are exclusive publishers who have copyright transferred to them.

Discussion of semantics.

There are definitely libraries at different tiers in the industry, and not every one deals with the gratis deals and zero up front payments. Expecting that this (gratis deals) are typical, usual and normal is sort of saying that there is no money in production music and everybody is racing to the bottom.

I don't think this is the case. There is certainly money there. How else would you meet people who are receiving WFH payments to create albums? If the publishers weren't making any money, they likely would be in a different business, and they certainly wouldn't be offering up front money expecting to never make it back.

Maybe the discussion should be more about those kinds of situations where people are earning money. What kinds of contracts are fair (to us as composers)? What are the types of libraries that are earning in the top echelons? How does one access those libraries? What kinds of music do they look for?


Exclusive or non-exclusive is only one part of the puzzle - but it's an important clue.

IMO.

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Re: A Shift Towards Exclusive.....?

Post by Danny » Sat Sep 16, 2017 6:59 am

We all know that signing exclusively is a double edged sword. Yes, it may be a boutique lib that has tons of placement but OTOH, you may have spent countless hours writing exclusive music and it just sits on the shelf.

There is a big factor that many people are overlooking. That is the duration clause. While many Exclusive Libs have a 3 year duration of exclusive ownership, some Exclusive Libs keep your songs in perpetuity. That means they own the rights forever, whether it's on 40 reality shows or sitting on the shelf collecting dust.

The good part about the 3 year terms is that if you are not pleased with the Lib's performance, you can pull the tracks and place them in another Exclusive or a Non-Exclusive lib.

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Re: A Shift Towards Exclusive.....?

Post by VanderBoegh » Sun Sep 17, 2017 8:33 am

There is a big factor that many people are overlooking. That is the duration clause. While many Exclusive Libs have a 3 year duration of exclusive ownership, some Exclusive Libs keep your songs in perpetuity. That means they own the rights forever, whether it's on 40 reality shows or sitting on the shelf collecting dust.
Very good point, Danny. Many libraries offer these reversion clauses, which allow you to pull your music out after a certain period of time. The verbiage of these things can vary wildly though.... some will insist on at least 3 or 5 years, some will say "if your music hasn't made $X amount of money in X years", and most will require 60 days notice and a small window of time to exercise the reversion before the music is rolled into a perpetuity thing. If you've got a lot of music signed, then keeping track of all these reversion options in multiple libraries will prove to be damn near impossible. But still, it is definitely something to keep in mind. An exclusive deal doesn't necessarily mean exclusive forever!

But in reference to the original post, I too have watched as a few of my libraries which used to offer BOTH exclusive and non-exclusive options have ditched the non-exclusive side and are now only accepting exclusive tracks. So, in some cases, there does seem to be a shift towards exclusivity. However, I'm not going to say that the entire industry is going this way based upon my small sample.

And for what it's worth, I'm making a very conscious effort to beef up my non-exclusive catalog, after having spent the past 5 years putting about 75% of my stuff in exclusive libraries. By focusing more on non-exclusive, I'll be able to sign a batch of cues to multiple places (effectively turning 1 cue into 3 or 4), and I'll be able to amass my own personal extensive library that I can pitch to supes on my own. Now that I'm in my 6th year and have made some surprising connections with producers and supervisors, I'm at the point where I can pitch my own catalog and keep the writer's side and the publishing side. Double the money! And then I can still sign those tracks to all of my non-exclusive libraries too. So double the money, and quadruple the signed cue count! Now THAT's a business plan I can get behind!

~~Matt

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Re: A Shift Towards Exclusive.....?

Post by Paulie » Mon Sep 18, 2017 9:17 pm

I don't worry much about locking down exclusive tracks with a library. If they sit on the shelf, you usually have an out clause after 12 months to get your freedom back for those files. If you crank out a lot of cues it's not that big of a deal, but if you generate a smaller number of works I can see why it would be an issue.

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Re: A Shift Towards Exclusive.....?

Post by Casey H » Tue Sep 19, 2017 3:46 am

Paulie wrote:I don't worry much about locking down exclusive tracks with a library. If they sit on the shelf, you usually have an out clause after 12 months to get your freedom back for those files. If you crank out a lot of cues it's not that big of a deal, but if you generate a smaller number of works I can see why it would be an issue.

PC
Actually, often not true. Quite a number of exclusive libraries have deals that are in perpetuity with no reversion. Not saying one should NOT sign such a deal, we've all seen situations where it has been well worth it. :D And among libraries that do offer reversion, 3-5 years is more the norm though I do work with one Taxi friendly library that does have a 1 year reversion.

:D Casey

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Re: A Shift Towards Exclusive.....?

Post by guscave » Tue Sep 19, 2017 5:49 am

Something that I started doing recently when writing cues for exclusive libraries, is to take the time and create another similar cue for non-exclusive libraries.

I’ll use the same instrumentation from the first project and change the melodies and chord progression. The whole process may take an extra hour to arrange and mix, but at the end, you have two individual songs to pitch. One for the exclusive library and the other for multiple non-exclusive catalogs.

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Re: A Shift Towards Exclusive.....?

Post by annayarbrough » Tue Sep 19, 2017 8:44 am

guscave wrote:Something that I started doing recently when writing cues for exclusive libraries, is to take the time and create another similar cue for non-exclusive libraries.

I’ll use the same instrumentation from the first project and change the melodies and chord progression. The whole process may take an extra hour to arrange and mix, but at the end, you have two individual songs to pitch. One for the exclusive library and the other for multiple non-exclusive catalogs.
That's a great idea :D
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Re: A Shift Towards Exclusive.....?

Post by cosmicdolphin » Sun Sep 24, 2017 12:29 am

guscave wrote:Something that I started doing recently when writing cues for exclusive libraries, is to take the time and create another similar cue for non-exclusive libraries.

I’ll use the same instrumentation from the first project and change the melodies and chord progression. The whole process may take an extra hour to arrange and mix, but at the end, you have two individual songs to pitch. One for the exclusive library and the other for multiple non-exclusive catalogs.
You sneaky genius... Why didn't I think of that !

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