Any insight on this deal?

[jmather]

Hello everyone, I was recently presented with the following deal. Any insight on whether or not this is standard/good/bad would be great. The reason I ask is that my percentage is significantly less than others deals I have signed. The deal is thru a sub library (L1) for a bigger library (L2). Licensing is split as follows: L2 gets 50%, L1 gets 25%, I get 25%. Performance Royalties:I get 100% writersPublishing is split 50/50 between L1 and L2.What struck me about this deal is that I don't get any publishing. How does this deal look?Thanks guys! Justin

[slideboardouts]

Hey Justin,Most good libraries are going to take all of the publishing (50% of the total royalties, you being the writer would get the other half). That is very common and plenty fair. The library absolutely deserves all of the publishing if they are doing a good job getting you placements. They have bills to pay too, and in most cases I would say that they have more bills to pay than us composers/writers. The sync fee split looks fine to me too. From what I've heard, sync fees have been steadily decreasing over the last few years anyways. So unless you are getting a really high profile placement there is a good chance that even 50% of the sync fee wouldn't amount to all that much. To be honest, when I sign a deal with a company the last thing that I am concerned about is what the sync fee split is. I am much more concerned about the company's connections and track record. From the information you've given it seems pretty standard. But remember that there are other factors in a deal that you need to consider beyond how the money is split up. However, in the end, I think that the most important thing to consider is how good of a job you think this company will do in exploiting your music. I am sure that there are plenty of composers who can tell you about the very "writer friendly" deals that they have signed which have made them little to no money, and then turn around and tell you about the very "unfair" deals that happen to be paying their mortgage HTHSteve

[ceedub]

The libraries get 50 percent of performance royalties, you get 50 percent of performance royalties. This is very common; most of my deals look like this.Is the back end percentage lower than your other deals or just the sync fee percentage?

[jmather]

Steve - thanks for your explanation. There are other aspects of this company that are making signing the deal a no brainer. But I did want to pass it by someone before jumping in. Ceedub - both percentages are significantly lower. However in saying, that when I got my other deal many people told me it was better than your usual deal so... Thanks guys, this is very helpful for me.happy weekend!Justin