Music Library - is 20% standard?

[ianferrin]

I signed a licensing deal w/ a music library for 3 tunes (beggars can't be choosers). The terms seem depressing though. Basically I get a 20% cut.Does anyone know if where 20% stands with others are getting. I presume established artists get a better shake? Did I get screwed?Thanks,Ian

[mazz]

Hi Ian,Sounds like you need to read the contract more closely. If it's the company I'm thinking of, you still get the writer's share of the performance royalty (you do belong to a PRO, right?). The 20% is for the upfront sync fees which these days range from $0.00 on up. Basically if they are putting effort in to promoting your music to their clients (which might be better and more numerous than yours a this stage) then they want a piece of the upfront pie. Is 20% a lot? Maybe. Is 20% standard. There is no standard. Will they reach more potential clients than you will? Probably unless you're very aggressively marketing your music to all the music supervisors and producers that you've been going around and meeting for all these years.There's a lot of difference between artist deals and library deals. If you don't know what those are, there's a ton of posts on this forum and plenty of books out there that give very clear explanations of how the business works. It will pay to get educated. Knowledge is power.Congrats on the deal.Mazz

[hummingbird]

Quote:I signed a licensing deal w/ a music library for 3 tunes (beggars can't be choosers). The terms seem depressing though. Basically I get a 20% cut.Does anyone know if where 20% stands with others are getting. I presume established artists get a better shake? Did I get screwed?Thanks,Ian100% songwriting and 20% publishing? or 20% synch/licencing? I'm not sure what you are referring to.

[matto]

It's never a bad idea to do a search first http://taxi.proboards27.com/index.cgi?b ... 1202403532

[ianferrin]

Thanks Hummingbird - its a licensing deal... for ads/movies etc. It's not a songwriting deal. They rename my tunes and use them under a different title than I gave the tunes. I retain the original ©.Mazz. Thanks Mazz. Reading your post in the other thread, I think it's probably the same company as yours. I guess time will tell.Matto - Thanks. You and mazz pretty much answered my questions. Thanks again guys.

[hummingbird]

Quote:Thanks Hummingbird - its a licensing deal... for ads/movies etc. It's not a songwriting deal. They rename my tunes and use them under a different title than I gave the tunes. I retain the original ©. I don't know what you mean by "it's not a songwriting deal". You wrote the music, you get the songwriting royalties (via your PRO). But sounds like Matt & Mazz have sorted it for you.H