Exclusive, Non-Exclusive, In Perpetuity, etc...

[Casey H]

HiI thought I'd share the experience I had the past few days because I think it brings to light some things that will be helpful to someone out there. I turned down a library contract and here is why it didn't work for ME.A music library wanted to sign the backing tracks to some of my songs. They pay no license fees upfront, but 100% of publisher and performance royalties- which was no problem for me at all. However, although the deal was non-exclusive, the term was "in perpetuity". Some contracts have a term such as 5 years and with a certain amount of written notice, you can terminate (with the stipulation that anything they already pitched or placed is still covered by the contract). Please read everything here... "in perpetuity" is not necessarily a bad thing.What the above means is, if I signed that agreement, even if only for the backing tracks to those songs, I can never sign any future exclusive publishing or library offer on any aspect of those songs. You cannot give someone permanent rights to use the backing track of a song and then later sign an exclusive deal with a publisher/library on that same song. A song IS NOT separable between the backing music and lyrics at that level. Many people do not understand this. That is why I am sharing this. In my case, I very much want to continue pitching the songs involved.Now, please, please understand... This type of deal can be a VERY GOOD thing for many people in other situations. If you are someone who writes a ton of music and have no concerns about giving up some future options on some particular tracks, this can be an excellent opportunity. As often said here, your music doesn't make any money on your bookshelf. But, if you have hopes to pitch that song elsewhere in the future, you need to know the legal rules.It's early and I'm still ramping up on caffeine so I hope I am getting my point across. The point is: do not think you can sign a non-exclusive deal for the backing track to a song and then later sign an exclusive contract of any kind for any aspect of that same song. It's not legal. Warmest, Casey

[ragani]

Casey,I'm glad you posted that one. I hadn't quite thought that one through, and your post was helpful. I've made mental note now for exclusive placements, and I certainly won't commit that error! Something else I learned on this topic from Matto at the Rally this year-- if I may post this-- he was all for signing exclusive deals for tracks, something which I had previously avoided, not realizing it's benefits. When I was attending to the e-mails that Michael was sending out this past year about getting 50 tracks in 20 libraries, and so on, I was aiming for placing those same 50 songs in 20 different libraries, and I hadn't realized that by doing that I was doing myself a disservice, as I later learned from Matto. Here's why-- if I sign those same songs in 20 different libraries, and someone wants to place them in a commercial piece, and if they go library to library and find that my material is in several, they may (will?) start a bidding battle , which results in less pay for the library, less pay for me in the end. Never thought that one through. Makes sense-- though my first CD of music library tracks landed themselves in 6 different libraries, so we'll see how that plays out. There's more to be done, and I'm chalking that one up for experience. Valuable advice-- thanks, Matto! Oh... and something more-- if the libraries have very different placement connections (i.e. one works mainly with European companies and another one does primarily US companies), then it would be something to consider, as they would not cross markets and cause the bidding battle for use of my tracks. So now my goal is 50 different songs in 20 different libraries. End lesson-- produce more more more! Raags

[Casey H]

Quote:Casey,I'm glad you posted that one. I hadn't quite thought that one through, and your post was helpful. I've made mental note now for exclusive placements, and I certainly won't commit that error! RaagsHi RaagsGlad to post something helpful... I hope the mental note was about non-exclusive as well as exclusive placements. We all just have to be careful in understanding that backing tracks are not always completely separable from the song itself, legally. A deal is not necessarily a bad one because of any specific parameters. But one has to understand all the implications of what they are signing...Warmest,Casey

[matto]

This is a very good point Casey, it's something people always seem to forget. 1 composition = 1 copyright. Regardless of how many versions of it you might have created.I honestly would advise people against pitching their backing tracks seperately from their songs. First, just about every library that's gonna sign your song is also going to want the backing track. Second, backing tracks don't make very effective instrumental music to begin with. I'm not saying they could NEVER get used, but a composition written as an instrumental generally has a lot more and better applications.[soapbox]If you have so little material that you need to pitch your backing tracks separately from your songs you NEED TO WRITE MORE SONGS!!! (or instrumentals)At the Rally I was approached by people who wanted to pitch different submixes (stems) as separate compositions or cut a longer cue into shorter ones and pitch those as separate compositions... COMEON people...there are no shortcuts here, you have to be willing to put in the work if you want to be successful at this! [/soapbox]matto

[ciskokidd]

Quote:[soapbox]If you have so little material that you need to pitch your backing tracks separately from your songs you NEED TO WRITE MORE SONGS!!! (or instrumentals)At the Rally I was approached by people who wanted to pitch different submixes (stems) as separate compositions or cut a longer cue into shorter ones and pitch those as separate compositions... COMEON people...there are no shortcuts here, you have to be willing to put in the work if you want to be successful at this! [/soapbox]matto I love the soapbox tags!!

[Casey H]

Quote:[soapbox]If you have so little material that you need to pitch your backing tracks separately from your songs you NEED TO WRITE MORE SONGS!!! (or instrumentals)[/soapbox]matto I resemble that remark!!!

[ragani]

Quote:[soapbox]...[/soapbox][ROTFL] HA HA HA!!! LOL!!! [/ROTFL]