Transfer of copyright ownership?

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Transfer of copyright ownership?

Post by patpal » Wed Feb 03, 2016 8:22 am

Hi Everyone,

Can you please give me some advice on this? I searched it in this forum, but couldn't find the answer.

Taxi forwarded one of my instrumental tracks to a music library and they
sent me a contract where the writer keeps 100% of the writer’s share but he transfers the title copyright exclusively to them.

Also, there is no sync or master fees, but a small download fee payable to the writer.

Is that a standard agreement in the Music Library business?

I thank you all in advance,

Patricia

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Re: Transfer of copyright ownership?

Post by PeterD » Wed Feb 03, 2016 4:44 pm

Patricia,

First, congrats in being invited into the library! :mrgreen: That's always a fun moment. What might be a little scary are the terms of the agreement. I can't speak for all contracts, but I'm assuming yours is an "exclusive" one? If so, essentially THEY now own the song (for a determined amount of time, or forever, whichever comes first). If you've already copyright protected it, they'll take care of whatever is involved to make it theirs.

Next, two things will happen ... 1.) The song will wither and die there, never being selected for use. Or 2.) It gets attention and placements, of which you get all of the writer's portion of the royalty and whatever that download portion is (I've never heard of that, but take it if they're offering it).

The bad news is you won't be able to do much of anything with this piece, since it's now theirs. The good news is, if it's a good piece they'll be the only one able to shop it and can set the price as high as they want.

Non-exclusive agreements typically mean, you maintain ownership, and can give it to multiple non-exclusive publishers or music supervisors, but now you have a situation where the one interested in the music will go with the least expensive source. Those don't necessarily get your song more attention either.

Either case is better than the song collecting dust on your hard drive (unless you're selling tons of units online).

I hope that helped? Keep in mind, you haven't written your best piece yet, so don't get too attached. 8-)
Good luck!
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Re: Transfer of copyright ownership?

Post by patpal » Wed Feb 03, 2016 6:01 pm

Hi Peter,

Thank you so much for your reply. I like your advice and it makes sense. It’s an exclusive agreement and forever.
I don’t like the idea of transferring my copyrights but like you say, it will probably collect dust for many years to come, specially because it’s not a very popular genre. So I’ll see what happens.

All the best,

Patricia

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Re: Transfer of copyright ownership?

Post by Cruciform » Wed Feb 03, 2016 6:43 pm

Hi Patricia,

No, that's not a standard deal.

I'd be very wary of exclusive agreements that don't give you any share of sync fees. There are some markets for music where syncs have all but dried up, but you should at least be getting a share of it when possible.

Personally, I'm fine with assigning copyright - have done it dozens and dozens of times - but in return they should be giving you either an upfront buyout OR a split of licensing fees (and hopefully a share of blankets). In very rare cases some libraries pay an upfront as well as split fees but they are the very top shelf high earning places. I don't understand what kind of exclusive library charges a download fee.

Given that you acknowledge it's not a popular genre, I would turn down the deal and try and sign it with some quality non-exclusive outlets - or an exclusive that has a track record of placing that genre.

But you have to decide if it feels right to you.

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Re: Transfer of copyright ownership?

Post by patpal » Wed Feb 03, 2016 7:40 pm

Hi Rob,

Thank you for your advice. This library charges a very small download fee to their clients, and gives the composer a percentage of it, it’s almost nothing. Their clients don’t pay sync fees.
I don’t know if they are good on this genre, they advertise the Networks they work with, but you don’t know what type of placements they have. I think it’s the same for every library unless they say it.

Thank you anyways, I’ll think about it.

Patricia

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Re: Transfer of copyright ownership?

Post by patpal » Wed Feb 03, 2016 8:24 pm

I watched the video interview of Michael Laskow with Music Library attorney, Ms. Erin Jacobson a few days ago, and she says the same thing you Rob say, that you wouldn’t want to transfer your copyrights for a few hundred dollars.

But still, you read and hear so many different things that you don’t really know how things work or what’s right or wrong.

I still value all your opinions though. I think it comes down to how much you like that piece and how much you need to make some money at that moment.

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Re: Transfer of copyright ownership?

Post by PeterD » Thu Feb 04, 2016 3:36 am

Maybe it's because I've had a bad experience with 2 exclusive libraries, but I tend to be more interested in the non exclusive ones. The way I see it, the money will be small anyway, so why not keep your ownership? Another good thing about your piece not being very popular might mean the competition is less. If it's good, you'll have a much better chance of being selected. Again, just my 2 cents and perspective.
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Re: Transfer of copyright ownership?

Post by Cruciform » Thu Feb 04, 2016 4:03 am

PeterD wrote:Maybe it's because I've had a bad experience with 2 exclusive libraries, but I tend to be more interested in the non exclusive ones. The way I see it, the money will be small anyway, so why not keep your ownership?
Guess it depends on the libraries in question. What I've made from exclusives dwarfs what I've made from NEs (and I still have more cues in NEs currently) - such that I no longer submit to NEs.

As a rule of thumb, a quality exclusive offering a fair deal and with worldwide distribution is more likely to be a better punt than a bunch of NEs, in my experience.

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Re: Transfer of copyright ownership?

Post by patpal » Thu Feb 04, 2016 6:58 am

I’ll think about it. I know it’s just one track, but they’re looking for more music too. Thanks Peter and Rob.

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Re: Transfer of copyright ownership?

Post by PeterD » Thu Feb 04, 2016 12:39 pm

You're very luck, Rob. I'm jealous!! :cry: :lol:

Your stuff is also off-the-charts, amazing!!
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