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I've seen a lot of these lately $250 for 100% of the Composition and Master rights what do you guys think of this selling your master rights for such a small fee ?

To be fair, I think you also make a percentage of what the slaves earn, isn't that correct?

Hi,

Sorry for my naivety, but is there any downside to a deal like this?

thanks.

Jon

you either consider it part of a "portfolio" or you just decide not to do it.

For example:

a bunch of non-exclusive tracks, a bunch of exclusive tracks (with no up front signing money), and a bunch of tracks done in a WFH (work for hire) arrangement where you would get "$250 for 100% of the Composition and Master rights" in return for only getting your writers royalties through your PRO when that track is used

might be considered a "balanced" portfolio where you play all the angles. And give you some up front money in the short term while you are waiting the 9 months for domestic royalties to come in (and longer for international).

If you have a straight job besides writing music, maybe up front money now isn't that important. Only you can run the numbers for you personal situation.

As far as drawbacks or advantages:

When you sell your copyright and master rights on a track for an up front fee, then you in most cases retain the writers royalty share of the track that will be paid to you through your PRO. In return you get money now which most people would consider an advantage. It could be that the track is placed many times on reality type shows which is most cases don't give you up front placement fees anyways - and then you get your writers royalties.

A possible disadvantage is that the piece of music might be perfect for commercial placements, and your library might get thousands of dollars in up front fees for placing the song in ads and you wouldn't get a penny beyond your $250 buyout fee and the writers share of royalties. From personal experience I can say that most commercial placements running nationally still accrue pretty decent writers royalties.

Another issue might that the particular terms of the buyout do not let you sell the song on iTunes as an "artist"

In general if you have no problem making a number of tracks each month, you might be less attached to them and you would feel more free to have them in different kind of deals as I mentioned at the head of this response.

OTOH - if you make one album of 12 tracks each year and pay handsomely for studio time, side persons, mixing and mastering, then it might not make any sense to let the tracks be signed for $250 plus future writers royalties.

Its up to you in your situation, but these are some of the things I think about.

Hi Andy -

Thankyou so much for taking the time to explain this, you make a lot of sense. If you're going to the rally I need to buy you a beer!

Thanks again.

Jon

andygabrys wrote:you either consider it part of a "portfolio" or you just decide not to do it.

For example:

a bunch of non-exclusive tracks, a bunch of exclusive tracks (with no up front signing money), and a bunch of tracks done in a WFH (work for hire) arrangement where you would get "$250 for 100% of the Composition and Master rights" in return for only getting your writers royalties through your PRO when that track is used

might be considered a "balanced" portfolio where you play all the angles. And give you some up front money in the short term while you are waiting the 9 months for domestic royalties to come in (and longer for international).

If you have a straight job besides writing music, maybe up front money now isn't that important. Only you can run the numbers for you personal situation.

As far as drawbacks or advantages:

When you sell your copyright and master rights on a track for an up front fee, then you in most cases retain the writers royalty share of the track that will be paid to you through your PRO. In return you get money now which most people would consider an advantage. It could be that the track is placed many times on reality type shows which is most cases don't give you up front placement fees anyways - and then you get your writers royalties.

A possible disadvantage is that the piece of music might be perfect for commercial placements, and your library might get thousands of dollars in up front fees for placing the song in ads and you wouldn't get a penny beyond your $250 buyout fee and the writers share of royalties. From personal experience I can say that most commercial placements running nationally still accrue pretty decent writers royalties.

Another issue might that the particular terms of the buyout do not let you sell the song on iTunes as an "artist"

In general if you have no problem making a number of tracks each month, you might be less attached to them and you would feel more free to have them in different kind of deals as I mentioned at the head of this response.

OTOH - if you make one album of 12 tracks each year and pay handsomely for studio time, side persons, mixing and mastering, then it might not make any sense to let the tracks be signed for $250 plus future writers royalties.

Its up to you in your situation, but these are some of the things I think about.

Cheers Andy!

Personally, for what I affectionately call "stupid little instrumental cues," I think it's a good deal, IMHO. If you crank several out per week, and you know that statistically, not 100% will get signed or placed, then getting money up front is good. And you STILL make back end as the writer if they DO get placed. I do agree that once in a VERY blue moon, something you created could land a slot with a big sync fee (like a TV commercial), but the chances are pretty small. Certainly MUCH smaller than every day placements in reality shows.

Most of the $250 listings lately are for a huge media company building it's own in-house library, and the VAST number of placements will be in their TV shows. In other words, they're not going to be pitched by that company for $50,000 commercials. Then again, if you have a bunch of cues in their library, you could some day be earning $50K in aggregate from all those cues. Several of our members had experiences somewhat similar to that when they placed a lot of music in Oprah's library.

hope that helps,
Michael

admin wrote:Personally, for what I affectionately call "stupid little instrumental cues," I think it's a good deal, IMHO. If you crank several out per week, and you know that statistically, not 100% will get signed or placed, then getting money up front is good. And you STILL make back end as the writer if they DO get placed. I do agree that once in a VERY blue moon, something you created could land a slot with a big sync fee (like a TV commercial), but the chances are pretty small. Certainly MUCH smaller than every day placements in reality shows.

Most of the $250 listings lately are for a huge media company building it's own in-house library, and the VAST number of placements will be in their TV shows. In other words, they're not going to be pitched by that company for $50,000 commercials. Then again, if you have a bunch of cues in their library, you could some day be earning $50K in aggregate from all those cues. Several of our members had experiences somewhat similar to that when they placed a lot of music in Oprah's library.

hope that helps,
Michael

Thanks Michael.. I decided to have a go at this type of listing and I've just finished 2 Chill tracks written yesterday and today to go in for the listing CHILL, ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTAL CUES... Deadline today and I'm just finishing up writing the metadata, Do you think the metadata matter at this early stage... Cheers Al

Always better to have metadata Al. Make it easier for them and they'll love you for it.

If you write fast and write music you don't really care about, go for it. It might be profitable for you. I don't spit out a bunch of tracks every week. Partially, because I'm just not as good as some musicians, and partially, because I put more love/time into my work and also do a lot of vocal tracks. I know there are people who just throw out tracks left and right and are basically doing it to get paid, which is fine. These tracks are nothing special but they get the job done. Nothing wrong with that, and sometimes, I wish I could write like that because they are often more suitable for syncs than my more complex tracks. If I end up writing a bunch of quick, simple tracks that I don't really care about, then I would consider it, but not at this point.