Ownership of Masters/Publishing Agreement

[andreh]

Oh Wise Ones-When a publisher contributes to production costs for a song demo, is it normal for them to acquire ownership of the master for purposes other than pitching the song to artists? For example, would they expect a portion of sync fees (separate from publishing fees) for placement of the master in a film?Thanks,André

[matto]

I would expect them to want a cut proportional with their financial contribution to the master. Having helped with the financing, they are essentially a co-owner of the resulting master and therefore entitled to a portion of the proceeds resulting from any exploitation of the master...unless something to the contrary was negotiated.That's how I see it...matto

[andreh]

Matto-Although this publisher has shown great interest in a song I co-wrote, neither I nor my co-writers asked them for any demo production dollars; they volunteered it, presumably to acquire a piece of the master.Do you think it would leave a bad taste in the publisher's mouth if we [tactfully] declined their contribution to its production and maintained its ownership? They'd still be seeing publishing $ from any sync deals they land (though in that case we'd have to negotiate the master use deal ourselves).Thanks,André

[matto]

Quote:Although this publisher has shown great interest in a song I co-wrote, neither I nor my co-writers asked them for any demo production dollars; they volunteered it, presumably to acquire a piece of the master.Possible, although I wouldn't presume anything, maybe they were just trying to help you out.Quote:Do you think it would leave a bad taste in the publisher's mouth if we [tactfully] declined their contribution to its production and maintained its ownership? They'd still be seeing publishing $ from any sync deals they land (though in that case we'd have to negotiate the master use deal ourselves).If it is this publisher's intent to pitch the song to film and tv, they'd at least want the right to negotiate the master license on your behalf, to preserve a "one-stop" licensing situation, as no music supervisor is going to want to negotiate with multiple parties on an unknown song.Whether or not they would consider just owning the publishing but not the master depends on what their intent for the song is, so you need to talk to them.There's never anything wrong with wanting things clarified...

[passiepassion]

I would just be honest with them and ask why they want to contributeI think it might have to do with mastering the demoAnd they might have contacts that can do it for themIf mastering is the case then i would ask what they want improvedThen check the net to try some mastering services or improve it yourselfHere one example but there are more services like these and cheaper as wellSo you don't have to give up a lot of rights for mastering your musicMost times its just politrix to provide some work to their 'friends' And if you can get the same result for 50 bucks Then you happily spend the 50 and keep the rights for yourself http://www.audiointegrity.com/mastering.htm* i never used this service aboveHave no idea about their quality just googled it to have an example

[andreh]

Quote:Quote:Although this publisher has shown great interest in a song I co-wrote, neither I nor my co-writers asked them for any demo production dollars; they volunteered it, presumably to acquire a piece of the master.Possible, although I wouldn't presume anything, maybe they were just trying to help you out.Quote:Do you think it would leave a bad taste in the publisher's mouth if we [tactfully] declined their contribution to its production and maintained its ownership? They'd still be seeing publishing $ from any sync deals they land (though in that case we'd have to negotiate the master use deal ourselves).If it is this publisher's intent to pitch the song to film and tv, they'd at least want the right to negotiate the master license on your behalf, to preserve a "one-stop" licensing situation, as no music supervisor is going to want to negotiate with multiple parties on an unknown song.Whether or not they would consider just owning the publishing but not the master depends on what their intent for the song is, so you need to talk to them.There's never anything wrong with wanting things clarified...Thanks for your thoughts, Matto. It turns out the publisher was interested in owning part of the master, and it didn't seem worth it to possibly block the deal by refusing (especially for a mere 17% difference in master ownership, which they'll surely be earning by helping us to place and administer the master). So, we signed a song! André

[andreh]

Quote:I would just be honest with them and ask why they want to contributeI think it might have to do with mastering the demoAnd they might have contacts that can do it for themIf mastering is the case then i would ask what they want improvedThen check the net to try some mastering services or improve it yourselfHere one example but there are more services like these and cheaper as wellSo you don't have to give up a lot of rights for mastering your musicMost times its just politrix to provide some work to their 'friends' And if you can get the same result for 50 bucks Then you happily spend the 50 and keep the rights for yourself http://www.audiointegrity.com/mastering.htm* i never used this service aboveHave no idea about their quality just googled it to have an exampleHi passiepassion-I don't think the publisher was concerned about getting the master mastered; they seemed pretty happy with what we produced for them.Thanks for the referral, though. André