Few questions from a new Taxi member... :)

[soulwire]

Hello! I've read the FAQ and quite a few threads but couldn't find an answer. I just signed up last month, nice to meet you all! Anyways here goes...1) Regarding exclusive deals, does this mean that it cannot be a song on an album that you've already written if you are still selling the album? (Basically, if you get an exclusive deal, do you have to get rid of the fact that you ever created it at all until the reversion clause is up).2) Some of the listings don't say if they are exclusive or not. Is there a way to find out, or is there a general assumption (or default) if it's not brought up in a listing?3) Some of the companies want the original multitracks or stems. What does that include? Does this mean that they want the sequenced material track by track? I use sonar, and was wondering if that meant they wanted the sonar file, exported audio & MIDI tracks, or something else. 4) There is no fourth question, hahaa..just excited that I joined Taxi. Can't wait to have a shot at some of these awesome opportunities and also to meet some cool, likeminded people. Take care!

[arkjack]

The answer to question #4 is howdy soulwire ....welcome to the board...I don't have any direct experience with forwards and contracts as of yet so I'll leave those answers to the senior members..... check some of the recent threads, hurowitz recently did a summary of contract terms.... ArkJack How deep is the snow?

[davewalton]

Quote:Hello! I've read the FAQ and quite a few threads but couldn't find an answer. I just signed up last month, nice to meet you all! Anyways here goes...1) Regarding exclusive deals, does this mean that it cannot be a song on an album that you've already written if you are still selling the album? (Basically, if you get an exclusive deal, do you have to get rid of the fact that you ever created it at all until the reversion clause is up).2) Some of the listings don't say if they are exclusive or not. Is there a way to find out, or is there a general assumption (or default) if it's not brought up in a listing?3) Some of the companies want the original multitracks or stems. What does that include? Does this mean that they want the sequenced material track by track? I use sonar, and was wondering if that meant they wanted the sonar file, exported audio & MIDI tracks, or something else. 4) There is no fourth question, hahaa..just excited that I joined Taxi. Can't wait to have a shot at some of these awesome opportunities and also to meet some cool, likeminded people. Take care!Hey Soulwire,Good luck with everything to start with. #1: This is a "cart before the horse" thing but exclusive means, well, exclusive. If it's signed exclusive to someone, they don't want it showing up (possibly as competition) somewhere else.#2: No way to know but to my mind it doesn't matter. I've come to conclude that a "good deal" is who you're dealing with combined with the specifics of the contract. An exclusive deal with may be a great deal with one publisher because they're very successful but a rotten deal with another publisher if all it does is take your song off the general market. Knowing that it's an exclusive or non-exclusive deal isn't useful to me if I don't yet know who the company is. And of course you only find that out if your song gets forwarded.#3: They only want the end result (the WAV file, CD, whatever) not the files you used to create the end result#4: Having a shot is what it's all about and almost half the fun. Dave

[ernstinen]

Hi Soulwire!As far as #1, I've got an exclusive contract on some compositions with a clause that says that the exclusion doesn't apply to the marketing of your own artist CD. I don't know if that's common or not, and I didn't ask for that clause, but that's what I got!Welcome to the nuthouse!Ern

[matto]

Quote:1) Regarding exclusive deals, does this mean that it cannot be a song on an album that you've already written if you are still selling the album? (Basically, if you get an exclusive deal, do you have to get rid of the fact that you ever created it at all until the reversion clause is up). If you're talking specifically film/tv contracts, many companies will still let you sell your CD's as they're really only interested in exclusive representation to the film/tv market. SOmetimes this is called "semi-exclusive"...Quote:2) Some of the listings don't say if they are exclusive or not. Is there a way to find out, or is there a general assumption (or default) if it's not brought up in a listing?Taxi provides this information when available. There's no way of finding out, the company either doesn't wanna divulge this information at that point or doesn't have a "set" policy (meaning it's negotiable). Unless a listing specifically says "do not submit unless you're okay with an exclusive deal" I would always submit to any listing that seems a good match for your music. Cause IF you get forwarded and IF the company likes your music enough to contact you (two BIG ifs ), then at least you've made a connection and are talking to somebody in the industry. If they want an exclusive on the songs submitted and you don't wanna give it to them, perhaps you have some "B material" available that sounds just as good but isn't appropriate for your artist project...or pitchable to major artists...(whatever your reason for not wanting to give them your A material)...offer them that. OR...offer to write them a song to their specs. So...you might sign a deal after all, and maybe get some placements and make some money down the road with tracks that were just sitting on the shelf...which would've never happend had you not submitted in the first place... Quote:3) Some of the companies want the original multitracks or stems. What does that include? Does this mean that they want the sequenced material track by track? I use sonar, and was wondering if that meant they wanted the sonar file, exported audio & MIDI tracks, or something else.This is actually pretty rare, but there's a listing right now asking for that. Stems just means you have to be able to provide a number of submixes made to their specs. Might be a full mix, one without the lead vocals, one with only drums/bass/perc...that's just an example they would provide you with the specifics if it comes to that. They wouldn't want any session files, just various submixes or versions...still as wav files.Quote:4) There is no fourth question, hahaa..just excited that I joined Taxi. Can't wait to have a shot at some of these awesome opportunities and also to meet some cool, likeminded people. Take care!Welcome aboard, and best of luck to you!matto

[soulwire]

Awesome, thank you (everyone) for all the information. I appreciate that, and it cleared up much confusion, especially regarding exclusive deals. It's nice to meet you all, talk to you later!