Question on Re-Titling Songs for Libraries

[davidvignola]

Hey Everyone,I got a quick one here. I was asked by a music library that wants to add my music t their catalog to re-titled all of my songs so they could register the new titles with their PRO and collect their publishing share.Now, I have heard of this before and I guess my question is this...If I re-name all of the songs for that purpose, what keeps them from taking those new titles, registering them with their PRO and collecting both the publishers and writers share? I did read through their contract agreement and everything looks pretty standard. It sates that I get 100% of the writers share and 50% of and licensing / sync fees and they get the full publisher share.....that seems pretty standard for the most part. It just dawned on me that I really have no clue if this company (which I won't name here at this time) would try to pass of the music as their own with new titles.Anyone have any advice on this?thnak in advance

[devin]

First: congrats on the deals!!It's fairly common practice to re-name, especially if it's a non-exclusive deal (where you can shop the songs elsewhere...although not generally a good practice anymore, it is possible). They rename for a variety of reasons, including being as descriptive and unique as possible in their database.You'll see a bunch of new titles show up on your PRO artist pages once they are done, so you can check that way. It's kinda fun to see the new names they give stuff At this point, it's a matter of you trusting them. You can call up and get more assurance (and risk being seen as "extra maintenance" in their busy eyes), or you can wish for the best.Feel free to do a reference check on the library first. I've had some offer Michael Laskow as a reference, but I figured if they used Taxi to run the listing, then they're pre-approved by Taxi. I've sent PMs and e-mails to other composers here in that case, and gotten good intel and assurances that way.Do it via PM or e-mail though...as you said, naming our clients on this public forum isn't in anyone's best interest.I am not a lawyer.

[guscave]

Hi David,Re-titling is a common practice and lately I've been seeing a lot of folks on the web debating weather it's a good thing or not. I work with a couple of companies that re-title. They either re-title the songs themselves or ask me to do it. If they do it, I ask them for a list of the new titles so I can check to see if it's properly registered with BMI.The only issue with re-titling is that you really are not 100% sure that you're getting writer's credit for the songs they place. Here's an example:Say a company picks up your song called "I love you truly", they re-title it as "loving you truly" and register it with the PRO's with you as the writer. However they can also re-title the song a 2nd time as "Truly in love" and register it with the PRO's as them being publisher & writer, keeping you out of the loop.Not saying that this is common practice, but in theory it could happen, and this is what some composers are afraid of. So basically if you are going to work with a library that re-titles, try to get as much info that you can on them first.Best to ya..

[davewalton]

I think most of us in libraries have the non-exclusive retitling thing maybe in addition to the exclusive non-titling arrangement. It's very common and definitely not a red flag. Don't turn down what might be a great intro into the film/tv music world because of that. Simply its just a way for them to track the accounting for royalty payments for publishing. Maybe PM a couple of folks to see if they've heard of them. I received an offer from a new library from the first music conference I attended. I hadn't heard of them and neither had anyone of the few people I asked but based on their credits and open conversation (not dodgy or elusive), I think I'm going to place some tracks with them on an exclusive basis. That can be a little scary but I can always write new music if the worse case scenerio comes about where the tracks are tied up and not generating any income.So... both cases can be cause for concern but being too cautious keeps us from legitimately good deals.HTH,Dave