Publishing Rights when signing exclusive deals

[donho]

I've got a country song forwarded to a library listing that was screened by the owner, so I'm hoping it'll get picked up,and its been reviewed as few times for "songs for an artist like.." type listings, and the consensus is that with a rewrite it could be a strong pitch for those types of listings. Question is, would having a song on a TV show, or video game or whatever effect its desirability one way or another for a publisher/producer etc. ?

[Casey H]

Quote:The potential conflict (of two companies pitching the same song) would only happen if you signed the song with two libraries, correct? Just having it in the building doesn't count, and keep pitching the song--or no?Yes, it's only an issue if you sign with more than one library. I'm not sure I understand your question; obviously, the song sitting on your bookshelf means nothing. However, each time you pitch it on your own, there is another possible source of conflict with the libraries.Should you worry about this? My opinion is that if you sign to a max of two non-exclusive deals, you have a fairly low chance of a problem, especially if you are not pitching directly to music supervisors on your own. There is no right answer other than as the number of people pitching your song goes up, so does the potential problem. Casey

[sgs4u]

If you get a song forwarded, (and even if the screener was the listing party) with no mention of exclusive or not in the listing, is there any reason at all NOT to forward that same song to another listing? I'm thinking the line is drawn at when a contract is signed. Is that correct?

[Casey H]

Quote: If you get a song forwarded, (and even if the screener was the listing party) with no mention of exclusive or not in the listing, is there any reason at all NOT to forward that same song to another listing? I'm thinking the line is drawn at when a contract is signed. Is that correct? Keep pitching. A forward is just a submission but with a little clout behind it. A large percentage of forwards will not result in an offer in the short term or at all. Not continuing to pitch would be equivalent to stopping taking job interviews because you already had one. Casey

[matto]

Quote:But, consider this... Let's say you let a music library do a re-title with a non-exclusive deal. You have not given up all your publishing rights. So, you could pitch the song to an ARTIST and have no conflict. Just to point out...many music libraries or publishers specializing in film/tv will agree to what could be called a "semi-exclusive" deal which guarantees them exclusive representation of a song to the film/tv market but does not prevent an artist from using the song to try to get an artist deal for themselves, or to pitch it to other artists with the intent of having them record it. Personally I think that's a good thing for most people.Having the same song represented by several libraries (under different titles) might seem like a good deal to a writer but is fraught with problems that could ultimately prevent the song from being used. I would hesitate to recommend that approach...matto

[middledistancerun]

Quote:I'm going to check out BMI/ASCAP's databases and see if I can find any examples of re-titled songs (do you know any off the top of your head?). That is REALLY interesting to me .. I had no idea they did that.Cool stuff! Thanks, again...Taking this idea of re-titling one step further ... what would prevent me from pitching my song "Naturally" to one publisher who signs an exclusive deal on it, then take the same recording, change the name myself, and pitch it to a different publisher for an exclusive deal under that name?

[sgs4u]

Could be seen as underhanded, I wonder if it's been done before? What if the song is signed but you create a new instrumental version of the same song? Does that create problems?

[matto]

Quote:Taking this idea of re-titling one step further ... what would prevent me from pitching my song "Naturally" to one publisher who signs an exclusive deal on it, then take the same recording, change the name myself, and pitch it to a different publisher for an exclusive deal under that name?What would prevent you from doing that is the wording in every publishing deal I've ever signed or even just seen...whereby you warrant that the composition is original and not in any way based on or derivative of any other composition. You REALLY don't wanna try that, trust me...cause YOU the writer will be the liable party, and everybody from the duped libraries/publishers to any production that may have used your music will come after you for damages.

[sgs4u]

Sooo much to learn!

[middledistancerun]

Quote:What would prevent you from doing that is the wording in every publishing deal I've ever signed or even just seen...whereby you warrant that the composition is original and not in any way based on or derivative of any other composition. You REALLY don't wanna try that, trust me...cause YOU the writer will be the liable party, and everybody from the duped libraries/publishers to any production that may have used your music will come after you for damages. I see ... *pokes head above clouds* ... so tell me if I have this right:If Publisher A licesnses a song exclusively for TV, but re-titled (so you could still continue to shop it around under its original name), and if you ever wanted to license that song (under its original name) exclusively to Publisher B (for all media), the language in Publisher B's contract would effectively make your original contract with Publisher A illegal, unless Publisher B agreed to NOT license your song to TV.I could see how giving Publisher A an exclusive right to a certain form of media could cripple your chances of gaining a future publishing deal with another company. The thought process behind that is that if Publisher B would want exclusive rights to all forms of media, and if you have Publisher A's contract out there interfering with Publisher B's ability to get an all-inclusive deal, they'll say "not worth our trouble."Again -- these are DREAM scenarios, but it's important (and fun) to understand these things, as I'm sure we wouldn't be members of TAXI if we didn't think our songs at least had a chance to score these kinds of deals.