Artist wants to record song

[mattglickstein]

Hi,

We sent one of our songs directly to an artist, and he expressed interest in recording his own version. We have a fully produced version already that we are happy with and it has got positive feedback and been accepted into a non-exclusive library in just the first few days we’ve been pitching. The artist who wants to record it is asking for us to pull it out of the library and discontinue all pitching and have us take the current version down. I can certainly understand the artist’s point of view if they are going to invest in creating a new version of the song. We pitched to that artist because we thought they would do a solid job with the song and they have some good connections, but we are torn on whether to take the deal because we are very happy and confident with the version we have and think it’s solid enough to get a sync placement. It’s tough for us to let go of the current version, so we are trying to see if we can get a 1 year clause in the agreement so we can revert to our original version after the one year. My co-writer and I have never worked with an artist before. Are we being reasonable? Does anyone have advice or experience on this issue? We’d appreciate any insight.

[Kolstad]

First release is still a thing with artists. If they dont get that, they usually wont cut the song. The first release is important in publishing when doing covers ect. I dont think an artist can live with having the song out in a music library. So I think you need to choose if you want the artist cut, or go the library route. I would pick the artist every time due to the exponential backend.

[melodymessiah]

i agree with kolstad, seems you need to decide, the artist or the library. do the artist have a substantial fan base or followers and the right support to really take the song somewhere? the people working with the artist is crucial, what reputation or credits do they have? if the artist has 100.000 + subscribers on youtube, i would definitely go with the artist

[TrevFury]

Yep, joining the chorus of the other members, but I would add the caveat that it ought to depend on the artist.

I'm an artist who hasn't done the work to build a following or gain traction out there. I'd love to record your tune, but in this case, you'd be better off chasing the library route than tying up a good song like that.

Another artist who's got an engaged following, is touring (apart from during covid), and regularly draws several hundred people to their shows, they have good connections and there is label interest in distributing their debut album, etc. In that case I would definitely go with the artist.