TAXI.com

I’ve seen some listings saying:

You’ll also keep the writer’s share and get performance royalties directly from your PRO. The Music Library gets 100% EXCLUSIVE ownership of the copyright and master.

For me, that’s not a business savvy, it seems like a contradiction. As I read it, it says: that the writer keeps the copyright share of their work, but on the other hand that the music library will get 100% exclusive ownership of copyright and master.

What’s left for the writer in this case?

I’ve also heard that if you give away your master rights you give away all your rights.

What is correct?

Copyright is complex, and I am not a lawyer, nor am I giving legal advice, but one possibility I think would be that in these cases I would be contracting directly with the library, and the contract with the library would specify how I would be rewarded.

Thanks irthlingz.

Telefunkin wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 12, 2021 2:24 am

in-simple-wordsssss-please-help-t146884.html

exactly.

kc2812 wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 11, 2021 4:15 pm

You’ll also keep the writer’s share and get performance royalties directly from your PRO. The Music Library gets 100% EXCLUSIVE ownership of the copyright and master.

For me, that’s not a business savvy, it seems like a contradiction. As I read it, it says: that the writer keeps the copyright share of their work, but on the other hand that the music library will get 100% exclusive ownership of copyright and master.

I am not a lawyer but read what Telefunkin posted above and add to that the following:

There is copyright
There is some agreed up split of up front fees.
There is writers share of royalties
There is publishers share of royalties.

In music licensing - copyright honestly doesn't figure into any dealing until the song is ripped off (or the copyright is infringed upon) and then it goes to court. If the song is copyrighted by an entity that allows them to fight in court as the lawful owner. Usually this will only happen if the amount of money is large - like say Eminem vs. Audi (and their contracted advertising firms).

So unless you are in that small amount of total rip-offs or close to rip offs then don't worry about the copyright, unless you are building a legacy of songs that will be covered by other artists and you want to be able to earn money. There might be some other cases where retaining copyright is advantageous.

If you are trying to license your music (that you wrote and produced) to TV, Film and advertising then:

DO WORRY about the split of up front fees including blanket licenses
DO WORRY about the split of back end fees (royalties).

At this point most songs are split 50/50% on both the upfront and back end fees.

The agreement is everything and even though you may give up the copyright consider what you are getting in return.

kc2812 wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 11, 2021 4:15 pm

I’ve seen some listings saying:

You’ll also keep the writer’s share and get performance royalties directly from your PRO. The Music Library gets 100% EXCLUSIVE ownership of the copyright and master.

For me, that’s not a business savvy, it seems like a contradiction. As I read it, it says: that the writer keeps the copyright share of their work, but on the other hand that the music library will get 100% exclusive ownership of copyright and master.

What’s left for the writer in this case?

I’ve also heard that if you give away your master rights you give away all your rights.

What is correct?

You have a lot to learn.

I would suggest reading as much information on copyright as you can find. Do not sign any exclusive deals until you understand how copyright works.

Get one of the books on the sync business. It can give you more confidence regarding the proposed deals in the listings.

What you consider worth signing can depend a lot on what you want to do with each song or track, so not all deals might be something you want. You don’t have to sign anything, so just go for the listings you feel confident about.

A master is the recording of a copyright, and is needed for sync licensing. In film/tv the money mainly comes from the sync license (the right to use the copyrighted work with the show/film) and the master use license (the right to use the recording of the copyright in the show/film).

Whether you will let the library be the only one who can issue these licenses (exclusive), or just one of several (non-exclusive), depends on the circumstances.

kc2812 wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 11, 2021 4:15 pm

I’ve seen some listings saying:

You’ll also keep the writer’s share and get performance royalties directly from your PRO. The Music Library gets 100% EXCLUSIVE ownership of the copyright and master.

Unless I'm missing something here, This is normal for exclusive deals. You keep 100% writer's royalties, they keep 100% adminstration. As for upfront fees or synch money, you will need to look further into the agreement to see how (or if) it's split up.