Transition Music
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| If you are a composer and/or songwriter, please leave your comments and experiences with this company. We want to hear the good as well as the bad! Please rate, from 1 to 10, by clicking on one of the stars. Below is some general information but we make no guarantee of accuracy. Check with the company for all details. Please contact us for any corrections. | ||
| URL: | http://transitionmusic.com/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Accepting Submissions: | Unknown - Contact at website. | |
| Submit Via Uploads: | Unknown | |
| Submit Via Mail: | Unknown | |
| Submissions Reviewed: | Unknown | |
| Types Accepted: | Unknown | |
| Charge For Submissions: | Unknown | |
| Up Front Money: | Unknown | |
| Royalty Free: (non-broadcast use) |
Unknown | |
| Exclusivity: (Exclusive, Non, Semi) (Semi = Free to place on own but not with another library) |
Exclusive | |
| Re-Title: | No | |
| Set Own Price: | Unknown | |
| Contract Length: | Unknown | |
| Payment Schedule: | Unknown | |
| License Fee Split: (writer/library) |
No | |
| PRO Split Based on 100%: (writer/library writer/library/publisher or writer) |
50/50 | |
| Requires Licensee To File Cue Sheet: | Unknown | |
| Notes: | ||
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Categories: Music Libraries T to Z | 
Tags: composers, music libraries, music library, songwriters | 
29 Comments »
Good company, but the composer only gets PRO royalties – no licensing fees.
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do they retitle?
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No, they don’t retitle. They’re exclusive.
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they dont indicate exclusiivity on any rhetoric on their site. I assume youre signed with them? If so , are you “making good” ?
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They are definitely exclusive. Yes, I’ve had some TV placements with them.
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Exclusive with no reversion clause. They DO get placements but one needs to carefully consider these terms.
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read their agreement. ive seen it .. too many writers HAVE shown me.
it takes exclusive rights in perp on your master too and song in perp exclusive automatically.
you get only writer royalties.
not fair to writers with masters that did cost them anything..
deal should be they license master per each use and writer owner gets 50% of master fee
but you retain the master.they publish song.you get writer share fee,
yes you should know that they wont retitle it but they own assume YOUR master and the song copyrt for no advance IN THEIR CONTRACT.
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They are on top of registering your work with a PRO and make sure your placements get reported. They’re an honest company.
Better than a company like Pump Audio that gives you 35% licensing fees and often neglects the PRO royalty process in registering your work on time or making sure the placements get reported.
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For myself personally, I would never sign away a track forever with absolutely no reversion. IMO there is no excuse for a deal like that. The fact that it is exclusive by itself is not an issue and (for me) neither is the revenue split. But no reversion is almost unheard of out there. I just don’t get it.
All that being said, if you write many tracks and don’t mind letting some go, you can get music in film/TV with Transistion Music.
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Anon,
If i gave you a million dollars to sign away a track with no reversion clause, would you do it? Never say never…
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Yadgyu, January 15th, 2010 at 2:40 am Reply:
I don’t think the exclusivity into perpetuity really bothers most people, as long as they get >$1,000 per track. I colud see the reluctance with no money being offered though. Even many record labels give the artist the rights back after a while as long as that artist has recouped.
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Matt, January 15th, 2010 at 1:00 pm Reply:
More than $1000 a track?! Either you have some mad hook ups Yadgyu, or you’re full of it!
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Yadgyu, January 15th, 2010 at 3:51 pm Reply:
Not at all my friend. I know that Music Dealers (http://www.musicdealers.com/) has deals where a person can get as much as $20,000 for a song on a commercial. I am sure these deals are extremely difficult to land, but they are possible.
I think that if you have the right song, you could start a bidding war between two different publishers. The demand for music, especially quality music, is at an all-time high. There are crazy deals floating around that we never even hear about.
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Matt, January 15th, 2010 at 12:55 pm Reply:
This brings up a really good topic… when is it a good (or less bad!) time to give your music exclusively to a library?
Here are some instances that I came up with:
1) when you get a lot of money upfront ($600+ per track)
2) when you know the library has a track record of getting good performance royalties, or license fees (even if they don’t pay upfront). You might know this from a friend that already has music in said library.
3) when it gets you in the door for further opportunities with the company, including writing for TV shows that they work on in addition to running a library.
4) When the company is very transparent, and shares all income with you (including blanket license fees)
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John
Sure… Right now I’d do it for $1.50!!
But this is a no up-front money deal. We are not comparing apples to apples…
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My attorney took their contract and made a lot of changes to it. They refused to do away with the “exclusive” part, and I was advised to pass on the deal. There has been interest in that song with other libraries (already signed non- exclusively to one) and I want to be able to have more than one library doing the leg work for me.
The only time I’ve signed a song to an exclusive contract was with a song that didn’t have much of a chance getting signed anywhere else, and it would’ve been impossible to re-record the song, so I signed it to the one place that was interested.
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Looking at the contract I was more concerned about the lack of a reversion clause than it being exclusive. Many good libraries are exclusive and that actually can be a plus– there are markets they can get into that the non-exclusive re-titlers can’t. This is happening more and more with the major TV networks.
Contracts that are forever with no exit raise my level of caution. If for any of many reasons, some because of you, some because of them you want out, you can’t.
HOWEVER everything has to be weighed. Does the library have a good track record? I mean, the goal is to get music placed. Do write a lot of tracks and letting go of a few is no big deal? There are no absolutes. One has to weigh all the factors and decide if the deal works for them.
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Hello,
I signed 20 songs or so in 2003-4 really low $, I get ascap checks for lots of cable shows from them cable doesn’t pay it seems. I don’t mind giving away instrumentals, I’ve stopped givings away my vocals tunes….. They seem to be what i call “chasers” whenever some celebrity dies they want that style….. I mean I don’t do “Michael”…. They work work and seem to be good people, not so good a contract…..
D
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I receive emails from them for jobs. When you email them a track, it is considered signed. That’s okay with me, but you never know what the placement is for or if your track was used. Also, lately they’ve been behind with sending out contracts and registering your work with your PRO.
I’ve asked about this and they said they’re keeping records of the placements, but it will be a while before they register or send out contracts.
So out of a dozen tracks I’ve emailed them in the last 8 months, I have no idea what they were used for or whether they were used at all. It makes the composer feel real important.
I won’t be emailing in anymore tracks for these jobs until I see some accountability.
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Many libraries never tell composers when or where tracks are placed. In those cases, you find out when your PRO statement comes, usually 6-9 months after airing or when a license fee check shows up.
Most of what you are describing here is not at all unique to this library.
It’s also common for library contracts to say that any additional tracks you present automatically fall under the current contract. That can be more of an issue with an exclusive contract so of course you shouldn’t send anything you aren’t prepared to give them an exclusive on right away.
I’m not saying this is good or bad or anything about this particular library…. Just that it’s very common practice.
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Anonymous, August 5th, 2010 at 9:12 am Reply:
First off; since there are no licensing fees paid to the composer, the placements won’t be discovered through that route. Second; if they’re way behind in registering your work with a PRO (or fail to register them), that route will be a dead-end as well.
And no, this isn’t the norm for my other libraries.
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anonX, August 5th, 2010 at 10:12 am Reply:
Hi Anonymous
I mentioned the license fee scenario to cover the general case, not necessarily this library. Many times composers first learn of placements when a PRO statement or license fee check arrives.
Yes, failing to register your work with PROs would be a big issue (of course). My understanding is they need to be registered within 6 months of broadcast because PRO surveys go back 6 months. You would think it would be in their best interest because they share in those royalties.
Our experiences vary and there certainly are a lot of libraries out there with different practices. Many contracts I’ve signed mention that any new works submitted fall under the contract.
What would make me a litte uncomfortable is this… They send out an email request for certain types of tracks. You submit in response. Since they are an exclusive library with no reversion, you don’t know if they thought the track was a match for that lead before it fell under the contract. If I was signed with them, I would at least dicuss it with them… Might not get anywhere but I’d ask about it…
Best of luck.
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Anonymous, August 5th, 2010 at 10:19 am Reply:
Exactly anonX. They may not have even sent these tracks to the client. And the composer is left hanging.
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slideboardouts, August 5th, 2010 at 1:09 pm Reply:
Actually, even if the works aren’t registered with your PRO, there is still a chance that you will get paid on time. I had a number of works that got used in 4Q09 and 3Q09 that did not get registered until last month, but I still got paid for them on my March and June BMI statements. When the cue sheet is filed, it will show up in your works catalog as a “Cue Sheet” that you can then click on and view what cues were used. Thats how it is with BMI anyways, not sure about ASCAP.
However, it is obvious that its better for the companies to register the works in a timely manner. Especially if the placements are going to be on a low budget show on some obscure cable network. I can definitely see that being a problem.
-Steve
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getting no lic fee at all -and just placing it where ever and assuming all new tracks automatically
and not getting the regs in to the pros–in a timely manner.
whats the advantage there.
thats so not how we do business.
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Anonymous, August 5th, 2010 at 9:35 am Reply:
Transition seemed to be more on top of the bookwork when I first signed with them.
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So if you send them a track, and they don’t use it, but don’t tell you, how will you ever know if you can send that track to a different library? Shouldn’t there be some sort of “song rejection” process?
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Anonymous, August 5th, 2010 at 10:38 am Reply:
I agree; a “song rejection” would be logical. Maybe I’ll email them with that suggestion. I did send an email awhile back asking about the status of my tracks. No reply.
I’m just getting tired of being treated with such disrespect.
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