works question....

[Gillihan]

What if I released a song on distrokid that I now wanna pitch it for film and TV... Can I rerecord it and it be all mine again? The new work ? I own all my works writing etc, but they put it on many platforms (I am guessing they claimed publishing) I was under the impression that they only own publishing for that version I own the copy rights, and I own the masters also.

[Casey H]

It's complicated.
In a full publishing deal that is all encompassing, the publisher owns both the composition and the master. Some contracts are like that. In those cases, you could not do this. And this could be sticky with any exclusive library, so you'd have to check with them.

There is no one size fits all answer because library contracts vary widely. I have many exclusive library deals whereby the library only wants the exclusivity as far as sync so I can do any other kind of release I want-- streaming, sell downloads, etc. But, as you can tell from reading Taxi listings, some libraries want songs that have never been released anywhere. And I have 1-2 exclusive deals whereby I am not permitted to release the song anywhere else.

There are 2 approaches, one of which was mentioned by someone else on these boards. (1) Separate what you write for sync from your artist works-- different tracks, different purposes. Or... (2) Release tracks to streaming via a service like CDBaby, Distrokid, etc. as you want to (Make sure you don't agree to them doing any publishing admin.) and take your chance that a library that makes you an offer is OK with songs being released that way. My own experience has been the majority of them are OK with it. But the risk is you will not be able to go through with the deal.

But ask yourself this. What are your goals? How much money do you think you'd make releasing via Distrokid? Often, it's just pennies. If sync is more your goal, I'd say hold off. I wait until songs are in libraries that are OK with it before releasing. I always get an email confirmation from the library that it OK before proceeding. Surprises are not a good thing!

HTH
Casey

[Gillihan]

It's complicated.
In a full publishing deal that is all encompassing, the publisher owns both the composition and the master. Some contracts are like that. In those cases, you could not do this. And this could be sticky with any exclusive library, so you'd have to check with them.

There is no one size fits all answer because library contracts vary widely. I have many exclusive library deals whereby the library only wants the exclusivity as far as sync so I can do any other kind of release I want-- streaming, sell downloads, etc. But, as you can tell from reading Taxi listings, some libraries want songs that have never been released anywhere. And I have 1-2 exclusive deals whereby I am not permitted to release the song anywhere else.

There are 2 approaches, one of which was mentioned by someone else on these boards. (1) Separate what you write for sync from your artist works-- different tracks, different purposes. Or... (2) Release tracks to streaming via a service like CDBaby, Distrokid, etc. as you want to (Make sure you don't agree to them doing any publishing admin.) and take your chance that a library that makes you an offer is OK with songs being released that way. My own experience has been the majority of them are OK with it. But the risk is you will not be able to go through with the deal.

But ask yourself this. What are your goals? How much money do you think you'd make releasing via Distrokid? Often, it's just pennies. If sync is more your goal, I'd say hold off. I wait until songs are in libraries that are OK with it before releasing. I always get an email confirmation from the library that it OK before proceeding. Surprises are not a good thing!

HTH
Casey

Thanks Casey!
I kinda figured that. I am registered with ascap as both a writer and publisher. So to be a one stop shop.(for the very reasons you stated above) I own publishing and copy rights etc on all my work except for the few in question. I will just call those dead for Sync. I did them before I started this new journey. (The band years lol)
Again thanks a heap.
Gilli