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What are the legalities when you have material signed to non exclusive agreements with a couple of companies but you might want to sign with another company using some of the same material but sign for exclusive?
Do you have to wait until your term expires? Do you have to notify the companies that
1. You want to place these songs exclusively somewhere else and
2. You will not be renewing with them after the term is up?
If I am somewhat locked into these non exclusive deals then is it wise to, in the meantime, sign with this other company non-exclusively as well? I understand that my work might be better shopped if I choose to go exclusive…and the $ can be better.
Thanks,If you are signed with another company non-exclusively it would not be legal, or ethical, to sign an exclusive agreement with another.
Dollars generated from exclusive deals are not necessarily going to be better than non-exclusive.
You really need to read your non-exclusive agreements with a fine tooth comb. It will tell you how to terminate it. They will all be slightly different.
I’d say get everything cleared up first with the non-exclusive library before attempting to place that same music in an exclusive library. That’s what I did for 2 of my tracks. And either way, the amount of money you could potentially make is always a toss up. Don’t let the exclusive model fool you into thinking you will automatically see more money.
I’m interested, are there any composers out there that are signing up their tracks exclusively with libraries that used to be non exclusive & have they noticed an increase in placements on tv?
Or also more interestingly, has anyone who has stayed non exclusive seen a decrease in placements on tv?
I have switched to exclusive with a library. None of my exclusive stuff has shown up on cue sheets yet. My non-exclusive catalog continues to get placements. I think it will be another six months or more before I see any action from the exclusive portion of my catalog.
Patience is the key.
A certain library that a lot of us have music with that’s kinda pushing us in the “exclusive” direction is still getting me placements on my nonexclusive stuff and the last one I found out about the other day was big 🙂 – I just thought i’d throw that in there…I did see a bit of a drop off in placements for a bit but now they seem to be coming back YMMV…i’m nonexclusive until I have ABSOLUTELY no choice but to sign exclusively…and even then (if it happens) i’ll be very uncomfortable about it…Jay
Hey Jay, by big do you mean network tv placement?
As I am down in Australia, my royalties take longer to come in & I don’t get access to cue sheets so I mostly have no idea if this exclusive craze is actually affecting people’s income or not.
I had a huge increase in royalties in my last payout, but that was from jan-march period last year, which I think was just before certain libraries starting changing to exclusive models.
I’m not a fan of this change to exclusive as it has the potential to seriously effect our income, I would have thought just keeping the original titles of each cue with a prefix at the end to identify the publisher would solve the issue… isn’t that what Crucial Music did & they get major placements all the time, so isn’t that example enough that the issue isn’t non exclusive, it’s the fact that the cues were being retitled.
@ TvCG – ya it was on NBC…I’m really impressed with this library and if I did sign with somebody exclusively it WOULD be them…I still think they’re going to push stuff that they feel will sell regardless if you’re excl or non…only time will tell I suppose but for me to go exclusive i’ll be bailing on some in store radio stuff that’s starting to make me some $ and everything else i’ve put work into directly and with other companies..i’m not ready to do that for just back end $ – call me crazy but it’s MY music..i’ve put a lot of time,sweat and heart into this..to just hand it to somebody hoping they’ll make me $ scares the hell out of me…I know this sounds corny but this is my life’s work and have been at it and improving/perfecting it for over 20 years…I write songs mainly and occasionally what they call “cues” here – my cues are starting to make me some real $ and my songs are getting placed as well…I really hope this “pro exclusive” thing fades away…it just makes no sense to me as a songwriter/musician 🙁
That’s very interesting Jay, there’s another example of non exclusive tracks getting used my major networks. I’ll throw another one out there.
Last year I custom composed tracks for a production on CBS, which aired during prime time. The contract I signed was non exclusive, I got paid an upfront fee, I worked directly with the music supervisor & I collected both artist & publisher share of royalties. I retained all rights to my music & the tracks I wrote for that production are also getting pitched to other productions.
Pay attention to these examples people, don’t be fooled into signing your life away, if your music is good, people will buy it regardless if its non exclusive or exclusive. A good track is a good track & music supes don’t care where it’s from as long as its clear who the owner is. Please don’t feel pressured into signing exclusive deals if you are uncomfortable with it, there is no real gain in signing these contracts, the only ones who gain anything are the libraries, not us.
Stay non-exclusive, Jay. You seem to be doing well.
As I mentioned on another thread. I submitted a track that is currently in a few non-exclusive libraries to an “opportunity” only to find out that it was an exlusive publisher deal. I told them that I’d have to decline because it was in a non-exclusive library and they said it was ok, “just don’t sign it with any other publishers.”
So I’m kind of confused and haven’t taken any further steps on it.
Is this situation common?
@erock: They must like the track. As far as common, what is these days! Kind of up to you. If they are a known quantity and you think it’s worth it I would make sure you have a reversion based on some kind of performance on their part. I wouldn’t do it unless I was really sure about them. That’s just my two cent opinion.
TV Composer Guy… While the jury still is out on this while exclusive vs. non-exclusive, I wanted to comment on the library you mentioned (“C….”) that is still very successful with major network and film placements while remaining non-exclusive.
It could very well be that because they established themselves SO well early on in this game and have such a great reputation with the sups they service, they were able to continue as non-exclusive, simply adding tags to track titles. Libraries with less well established relationships and reputation may not have the same luxury.
It also seems that the lower end blanket license market, such as for cable TV, is very affected here by this whole issue. I don’t think J…. and S…. are pushing exclusive just for the heck of it. Cable TV production companies see themselves paying blanket fees to multiple companies, only to find they are seeing a lot of the same tracks. So they feel they are wasting money.
All that being said, I also continue to get non-exc placements for those blanket cable deals and can’t say if that will dry up in the next few years or not.
I am sticking with the libraries that get me placements. I will just treat every deal as exclusive and leave it at that.
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