Blanket License Earnings

[WlaUs396]

Curious for some input on this. I receved a non-exclusive contract that has this clause in it:

Company shall retain 75% of the Net Sync Income, and all other remaining Song/Master earnings including but not limited to Song/Master blanket license earnings, direct performance fees, and Song/Master publishing royalties.”

Besides the rather uneven split, it would appear that the composer/writer receives nothing for blanket license earnings. I have never seen this before. Is this normal or becoming normal?

[Advice]

It sounds like they are giving you 25% on any blanket, sync, direct performance fees (e.g. as with Scripps network placements), etc. Considering that many libraries give you zero on much of those, it’s actually *relatively* good with the exception of 25% on a standard sync (non-blanket). There the norm is 50%.

You should still be getting your 50% on PRO royalties.

You might want to ask them to clarify how your fee portion is determined on blanket deals. Most likely it’s some sort of pro-rated formula. If they do a blanket of 1000 tracks for $10,000, I’m pretty darn sure they won’t be paying you $2500. It’s usually prorated by your number of tracks over the total number of tracks or some such formula. It will be a very small amount of money, I’m sorry to say.

However, as with any deal, you have to hope you get some placements on decent paying channels and a lot of reruns so the PRO back-end money adds up.

[WlaUs396]

Thanks, Advice. I am in the process of sending a letter to try to clarify the blanket deals. Your interpretation was more positive than mine; I read it to mean 0% on blankets. I’ll let you know when I hear back from them.

I know the norm is 50% on sync. I hate to encourage a 25% rate –

[Advice]

There’s always many factors to consider. Yes, 25% on sync instead of 50% is below the so called “norm”. But you’d weigh that against the track record of the library for actually getting sync deals in the first place, since many libraries get only deals with all back end.

I always say that one of the most important factors IF you can get the info, is the recent track record of the library in securing placements. You can’t name the library on the general forum section here but if you are an MLR member you could discuss the particular library and maybe others can tell you what their experiences have been.

Good luck!

[WlaUs396]

Alas, after clarifying this particular library’s terms on blanket licenses and direct performance fees, the answer is that the composer gets 0 %. I am told that the calculations over thousands of tracks became “(an) accounting nightmare” and “(often led) to pennies for the writers.” So, the upshot is that writers get nothing for blankets, except of course for backend writer’s royalties, which can’t amount to much unless there are regular worldwide airings.

So, it would seem that 0 % is the “norm” for blankets? I wonder where the incentive is for a library to push for needle drops on individual tracks when they can just sell a blanket, pocket the fee and be done with it.

[Advice]

So, it would seem that 0 % is the “norm” for blankets? I wonder where the incentive is for a library to push for needle drops on individual tracks when they can just sell a blanket, pocket the fee and be done with it.

That has been my experience so far with libraries such as J* and S*. It’s all back end. The library makes it’s money from the blanket fees. Yes, those same libraries (I see it with J*), do also go after conventional sync deals, but what I’ve seen is the majority of placements being blanket, back-end only.

Also, there are many non-blanket placements with no up-front money as well regardless of library. For example, MTV rarely pays sync even when dealing directly with composers (Yes, I know there are some exceptions). Luckily, MTV pays a lot better than other channels on the back end.

So it comes down to: Do they at least have a good track record *IN* the market they go after? Are you OK with back-end only remembering that it is non-exclusive and you can still market the tracks elsewhere?

[WlaUs396]

That has been my experience so far with libraries such as J* and S*. It’s all back end. The library makes it’s money from the blanket fees. Yes, those same libraries (I see it with J*), do also go after conventional sync deals, but what I’ve seen is the majority of placements being blanket, back-end only.

Thanks, Advice. Not a rosy picture, but there it is. And yes, I have placed a inquiry in this site on the library specific forum asking about track record for this library.

Non-exclusive with retitling does not necessarily bother me; in perpetuity does. In perpetuity is not the subject of this thread, but agreeing to in perpetuity with no fees on blankets, back end only, is a lot to ask. I guess that is the way things are going.

[Author]

Posts