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anyone have experience with this library?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:04 am
by jwtaxi
Hello, I understand we shouldn't post specific names here, so I won't-if you have worked with this library, you will know who I am talking about.
based in Germany, they specialize in "sparse" instrumental tracks, few instruments, short track lengths, etc. they accepted a forward and offered a contract to myself and my writing partner. they want stems, and alt mixes, pretty standard library requests. however, they register everything they accept with PRO (we are both with ASCAP). normally I register everything we record before sending out, to protect ourselves before anyone else even hears it. This happened to be a PD, so I hadn't registered the arrangement.
they seem to be on the up and up, with a solid website, very responsive to emails and questions, etc-however, we are a bit concerned about not being in control of the registration, and even knowing whether it will get done, and how we would even know if it happened. I know we can check ASCAP database, but maybe they say they didn't accept the track, change the name, and we would not have any way of knowing it even happened. we are holding back on newer tracks until we see how fast this track gets registered and released. Does anyone have experience/ideas? thank you!

Re: anyone have experience with this library?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:31 am
by eeoo
Pretty standard practice in my experience. I'm signed with over a dozen libraries and only one of them wants me to register the tracks before I send them to them. All the others do all the registrations so I basically never register anything myself. As far as knowing they're registering them, many times they don't until they find placements for them. I personally wouldn't be concerned if you know it's a reputable company.

Re: anyone have experience with this library?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:34 am
by guscave
All the libraries I work with register my songs directly with the PRO. It save us both the hassle of having one song registered twice. I do suggest that you review your BMI or ASCAP catalog about once a month to make sure it's done correctly. I've had issues in the past were another writer was getting credit for one of my songs. I quick call to the libraries fixed that.

Re: anyone have experience with this library?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 11:29 am
by VanderBoegh
I've got over 3,500 registrations in my ASCAP account. Wanna guess how many of those I registered myself? About 5..... seriously.

Let the library do it, unless specifically stated otherwise.

~~Matt

Re: anyone have experience with this library?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 11:48 am
by DesireInspires
jwtaxi wrote:
Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:04 am
Hello, I understand we shouldn't post specific names here, so I won't-if you have worked with this library, you will know who I am talking about.
based in Germany, they specialize in "sparse" instrumental tracks, few instruments, short track lengths, etc. they accepted a forward and offered a contract to myself and my writing partner. they want stems, and alt mixes, pretty standard library requests. however, they register everything they accept with PRO (we are both with ASCAP). normally I register everything we record before sending out, to protect ourselves before anyone else even hears it. This happened to be a PD, so I hadn't registered the arrangement.
they seem to be on the up and up, with a solid website, very responsive to emails and questions, etc-however, we are a bit concerned about not being in control of the registration, and even knowing whether it will get done, and how we would even know if it happened. I know we can check ASCAP database, but maybe they say they didn't accept the track, change the name, and we would not have any way of knowing it even happened. we are holding back on newer tracks until we see how fast this track gets registered and released. Does anyone have experience/ideas? thank you!
When you have a chance, send me a PM about this library. I have a few questions. Thanks.

Re: anyone have experience with this library?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 5:00 pm
by cosmicdolphin
Matt beat be to it and then totally outgunned my numbers....but close to 300 Library cues now and every single one gets registered by the Library...how would they collect the publishing otherwise?

Mark

Re: anyone have experience with this library?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 5:13 pm
by jwtaxi
eeoo wrote:
Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:31 am
Pretty standard practice in my experience. I'm signed with over a dozen libraries and only one of them wants me to register the tracks before I send them to them. All the others do all the registrations so I basically never register anything myself. As far as knowing they're registering them, many times they don't until they find placements for them. I personally wouldn't be concerned if you know it's a reputable company.
Thanks for this- I have tracks in a number of libraries as well, but most of my experience with them has been that the first thing they do is "check rights holders"-in other words, they are making sure that I own it/them before they will accept the track(s).
However, in the past, I have submitted tracks on a per track basis and signed a per track contract. if I already had tracks in the library and they wanted to add a track, we used the same contract and added to the existing list.

Much of the writing we do is for our own releases, and if we see a Taxi opportunity, for instance, we then submit. So I register the tracks before any public consumption, as a general rule.

this is the first time that a library has asked me/us to sign with and create content for them so I am seeing that it appears to be a new set of guidelines.

Re: anyone have experience with this library?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 5:15 pm
by jwtaxi
cosmicdolphin wrote:
Thu Jul 11, 2019 5:00 pm
Matt beat be to it and then totally outgunned my numbers....but close to 300 Library cues now and every single one gets registered by the Library...how would they collect the publishing otherwise?

Mark
usually what I have had happen is that they retitle, that's how the publishing is differentiated from my commercial releases, downloads, etc. then they register the new title, if/when that happens. some just add a prefix to my title, and others have actually assigned a totally new title.

Re: anyone have experience with this library?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 5:22 pm
by jwtaxi
VanderBoegh wrote:
Thu Jul 11, 2019 11:29 am
I've got over 3,500 registrations in my ASCAP account. Wanna guess how many of those I registered myself? About 5..... seriously.

Let the library do it, unless specifically stated otherwise.

~~Matt
Thank you-that's quite a number!!
this is going to be my first experience signing a contract with a library that is interested in work that is not yet created.
with many of my other works, I may sign an exclusive with the library, but I am still allowed to release commercially, perform in public, etc, so of course, I register those on my own.

obviously, you feel comfortable with that arrangement-excellent! how many libraries do you work with outside of USA? if you don't mind me asking.
I'm trying to get a feel for how others are doing this. in the past 2-3 years, almost all of my royalties have been international, much from radio play.

Re: anyone have experience with this library?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 5:29 pm
by jwtaxi
guscave wrote:
Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:34 am
All the libraries I work with register my songs directly with the PRO. It save us both the hassle of having one song registered twice. I do suggest that you review your BMI or ASCAP catalog about once a month to make sure it's done correctly. I've had issues in the past were another writer was getting credit for one of my songs. I quick call to the libraries fixed that.
Thank you! do these tend to be cues/music written specifically with the libraries in mind? It seems that I may need to separate the tracks we create in my head, a bit. we wrote a lot of instrumental "songs", but with Taxi listing guidelines in mind. this library has many guidelines that govern their cues, which would separate (to me, anyway) their "library music" from our "creative music", for lack of a better term.
I am a full-time performer for many years but have been slowly working my way into this end of the business, and in the past year or so pursuing it much more, having a small bit of success in this area, and trying to build on that. it is a very different way of working and doing business, and many things that appear to be STOP in this end of the business are things that send up big red flags in the performing/touring business.

I
certainly appreciate the insight-thank you all!