what happens after a sync contract expires

[nrgband]

If I have a 5 year licensing contract with a sync company what happens in the following situations:

1- I have a piece of music signed exclusively but it never gets placed, after 5 years can I get the piece back to license to another company or do they retain it for the length of copyright which I believe is 75 years?

2 - I have a piece of music that they placed and makes money,, what is the situation after the contract expires in 5 years?

[AlanHall]

Read your contract carefully. I suspect that the term automatically renews unless you specifically request that it does not.

[jdstamper]

I agree, it should be in the contract.

But if it's not your next steps would be to either contact the library -OR- just leave it alone and move on.

I've been in that situation and for me, I decided it's not worth hassling the library to get the music reverted back, especially for just a few tracks. I actually do like to see a reversion clause in a contract, because it protects me if the library goes out of business, and well it just leaves the option there if ever needed. That said, I've never pursued a reversion (except when a library has gone out of business) because I don't think it's worth it.

Of course, everyone has their own situation. My music is almost all instrumentals for sync, and I prefer to just move forward and produce more. I might feel differently if I had 25 or so tracks with a library and none had been placed in 5 years.

Good luck! Jim

[Casey H]

As been said read the contract. In most cases, if the song has actually been placed, they own in forever and if it hasn't, when the 5 year term is expiring, you can request to remove it. But contracts and terms vary, so read carefully. Good luck!

[cosmicdolphin]

Personally I wouldn't want my 5yr old music back as I feel like I've learned a lot since then and my tracks are generally way better now.

I think the best plan is to make as much music as you can and leave them signed to wherever you signed them and just make more. Many of these exclusive deals are in perpetuity anyway.

Mark