Shameless: 'Bratz' Movie Songwriting 'Contest'

[dhodgson]

(whoops! I just discovered that this subject is also touched on in the 'Major Movie Wants Your Music With No $$' thread. But the details sure are spelled out here!)OK. Maybe if you haven't been in a Toys-R-Us recently you haven't been aware of the 'bad girl' line of dolls (think Barbie for the Snoop Dogg set) called Bratz. Recently I received a bit of spam stating that "the David Geffen Co. was soliciting songs for submission for the soundtrack to their upcoming live action film, Bratz: The Movie" which you can see for yourself here: http://www.bratzsoundtrack.com/Certainly a few red flags popped up right away: First, there's no mention made as to what type of music was expected for this film. And secondly, although the word 'contest' is used, there's no mention anywhere of a prize.Because there is none.If you click on the 'Click Here' link, you'll be taken to a lengthy page of legal boilerplate which seems to be distillable to the following:1) If we use your song(s), it/they become our property and we don't have to compensate you. At All. Your 'compensation' is limited to the fact that we allowed you to submit your song to us. (They really say this!)2) Our A&R guys need 4 months to determine if your song is worthy. In the meanwhile, you may not sign any record or publishing deals with anyone else.3) If we do decide to 'use' your material, we may or may not do anything significant with it but never mind that - you have already agreed to accept that you will be signed to an exclusive artist arrangement with us, the details of which are left unspecified because after all, you've already agreed to it.4) Notwithstanding the fact that we're not compensating you, if any legal issues arise as to your song (such as authorship disputes, clearances, and the like) you're on your own, baby.Now, should you actually click "I Agree" to all of this you're presented with the following form:You're one step closer in getting your music in front of an A&R exec.Just fill out your contact info for you or your group, and your website URL where we can find your music. First Name Last Name Address Phone Email Song Title Artist Website URL Now, you can also read the terms I'm talking about here: http://www.bratzsoundtrack.com/terms.htm. Basically, everything about this well-promoted "contest" (just Google 'Get Your Song In Bratz' for an idea of just how well-promoted) screams artist misery. As innoculated as I am to the history of artist abuse by labels, somehow it wasn't sufficient to inure me to the blatant shamelessness of this scam. Or am I overreacting? This is not my idea to being 'one step closer in getting your music in front of an A&R exec!" -djh

[anne]

Hi DJH, I had posted the other thread "major movie..." I think you stated what I was trying to say in a much better way! Oh, I feel a rant coming on.... It isn't at all like a small company or indie project that has no budget and are looking for music - MGA and Geffen are HUGE companies and could have, at the very least, come up with a better contest agreement.I guess if you just want to get the song in front of some A&R guys its ok - they do have an expiration on the exclusivity now, and at least they aren't charging anything to give it a listen. It will be interesting to see what happens in the end. I just think there are more ethical ways to get people involved in the business, like Taxi and a few other organizations.

[Casey H]

Those of you who subscribe to Goodnight Kiss will see a blurb about this type of offering in the latest newsletter.IMO this is a bad deal unless someone want a 1 in a million shot at some possible notoriety for which they will not (directly) make any money. If someone wants to take a shot with one of their songs, knowing that they would be giving up virtually all rights to their song that's certainly a choice... the question is if you were selected would you be able to capitalize financially in other ways?Just know what you are agreeing to before you hit the SUBMIT button.Casey