Two questions re: exclusive rights

[innerchild]

I’ve just been asked to compose an exclusive instrumental album for a big library.

My questions are, do I still retain 100% rights of my music in an exclusive deal? and can I use those tracks for commercial projects, ie; have an artist perform on them for release on a label?

[mojorising]

As far as I know, any EX or NE deal you still retain 100% ownership of the music, and can still sell for commercial purposes like selling the actual tracks on Itunes. But just could not sign the songs with any other library for licensing.

[mojorising]

I have a question regarding EX too. I know this has been discussed a lot but some of these questions only get answered with time and hearing peoples experiences. I was offered an EX deal at a royalty free library with a good reputation on MLR. When I told them these tracks were in other NE libraries that collect back end, they said I can just re-title the songs. Any potential danger there?

Also I can chose between 100% royalty free in which they say I will sell more licenses, or collecting back end too if its broadcast but that I will sell much less. I would then of course need to register all those new alternative titles in ASCAP. Wondering if anyone has thoughts on that? A year ago I wouldn’t have even considered doing 100% royalty free, but for me having focused mostly on back end driven libraries my income has not been nearly what I would have expected with the amount of placements I get on a daily basis.

[Paolo]

I think it depends on what’s in the contract.

A few weeks ago someone had posted here an exclusive contract clause that stated the composer forfeits all rights and copyright in exchange for compensation…something to that affect.

My understanding is the composer forfeits ownership (no copyright; no rights) but I might be oversimplifying and misinterpreting.

[Mark_Petrie]

I guess it depends on what “exclusive” means.

There are libraries that take ownership completely (FOREVER) of the music. You can’t do anything with the music once you hand it over. This happens at pretty much all the top ‘PMA’ libraries, where you either do a buy-out and get paid upfront in lieu of future licensing, or you sign a deal where the library is the owner of the music and splits the licensing with you (no money upfront). The latter is a typical deal for the trailer music world. These deals don’t usually allow for the composer to publicly release the music on iTunes etc, but I know of some nice exceptions.

Then there are royalty-free or TV-centric libraries that are exclusive for a set amount of time, or ‘exclusive’ in that they just don’t want you to put the same music in a direct competitor’s library. Perhaps that’s where you guys are getting some conflicting information.

[Author]

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