publishers+re-titling

[hummingbird]

Hey, you good Taxi folks, are re-titled published songs are becoming a standard procedure in music publishing? I know Matto explained this a while ago, but I can't find the thread it was on....this is where the publisher re-titles your song and registers it, etc. (I think) they shop the newly titled song, you can do whatever you wish with the original. How is the copyright handled? I thought you couldn't copyright a title? Does someone know how this works?cheersHummin'bird

[matto]

Vikki,I'm deadlining this week so I don't have time for an in-depth explanation, maybe towards the end of the week...Some quick points:1- It's called a "derivative copyright"2- No I don't think it's becoming a standard, I can't see a full service publisher being interested in derivative deals, it's largely limited to specialty publishers3- Derivative deals make the most sense and are usually offered for songs that have the potential to be recorded by major artists or land the artist/performer a label deal, in other words top-notch commercial material which shouldn't be fully encumbered by a specialty publisher who could only exploit a part of such a copyright's potential...still they are far from being a standard even for such songs, or among specialty publishers.matto

[davewalton]

Hi Vikki,I have some songs with a music library that has that non-exclusive, retitled track, arrangement. It's just an "accounting" thing - a way for a music library to keep track of the music that they place. If you think about it, it's the only way to work a non-exclusive arrangement. If I write song called "Sky", I'm the writer and publisher. A music library licenses the song non-exclusively and renames it to "Clouds" and then becomes the publisher for "Clouds". A third music library can license the same song, again non-exclusively, and retitle it as "Air", etc. I'm always paid as the writer, but the payment to the publisher and the splits on the upfront fees depends on which title is being placed. I don't think there's much more to it than that. An exclusive arrangement doesn't need to have the song retitled since the song, writer, and publisher are "fixed" and no other entities can place that particular song.Music that plays purely as background music to most shows like what you might see on "The Travel Channel" don't really have to be exclusive or unique. Most people don't even notice the music is there. Obviously, it's a different story if a song is pitched to an artist. You can't have Keith Urban and Kenny Chesney both performing the same "hit" song, just retitled. Dave

[og]

Well, you could. That would be hysterical. Especially if it was one of those songs with a hook from a beer cold-cup.