Home › Forums › Newbie Questions › What does "exclusive license" really mean?
Tagged: exclusive, exclusive deals, exclusive licensing, licensing
- This topic has 12 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 11 months ago by Marc Jackson.
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October 21, 2019 at 10:21 am #33491CurryParticipant
Hi There,
I am a music producer who has released dance music on my own record label via Spotify, itunes, amazon, beatport, traxsource…etc. basically for regular listening pleasure. And I own 100% of my publishing on these tracks.My question is. If I supply these same tracks to a music library service, for exclusive use in sync licensing, can it still be considered on exclusive terms with them?, since I’ve never distributed this music to any libraries in the past for placement in sync licensing…is the exclusive term still honored for sync licensing and placements, even though it’s available on Spotify, itunes, amazon music, and other Non-synce music library portals? any advice is much appreciated..Thanks in advance
October 21, 2019 at 10:50 am #33492Art MunsonKeymasteris the exclusive term still honored for sync licensing and placements, even though it’s available on Spotify, itunes, amazon music, and other Non-synce music library portals? any advice is much appreciated..
It would depend on the library you were dealing with and their terms. I would think many exclusive libraries might want the right to distribute to streaming services. Once again, depends on the library.
October 21, 2019 at 2:50 pm #33493CurryParticipanthmmm. Why would a library want to distro to a streaming service like spotify? I thought they are only in the business to try and get you placements for sync licensing.
October 21, 2019 at 3:42 pm #33494Art MunsonKeymasterWhy would a library want to distro to a streaming service like spotify? I thought they are only in the business to try and get you placements for sync licensing.
Some libraries want that right and do release to the streaming services.
October 21, 2019 at 6:34 pm #33495LAwriterParticipant^^^^
What art says is true.
I’ve got albums under my name all over Spotify and the like. Albums that I’ve never seen, never made, never “OK’d”. All put there by “music libraries” venturing into the “record company” paradigm.
October 21, 2019 at 9:57 pm #33496Per BoysenParticipantAlso, non-exclusive libraries may as well create albums from your submitted tracks. When my YouTube channel recently became an “Official Artist Channel” YouTube assembled a lot of these albums and packed it all into my channel. One non-exclusive library has even taken on the publisher role, although I have not signed up for their “publishing service”. My guess is that the business idea is to cash in on ad revenue by YouTube monetization? Obviously this did not work out, regarding my music, since YouTubed assigned monetization to my channel when upgrading it.
October 21, 2019 at 11:23 pm #33497jdt9517Participant+2 for Art
Speaking from my lawyer side (and no this is not legal advice) – it depends upon the contract. You have to look at the contract terms really closely to decide what you can and what you cannot do. There is no such thing as a “standard contract”.
If it is a handshake agreement, the agreement is as good as the paper its written on.
Be careful what you do. Your copyright/publishing rights are probably the most important IP you own.
October 22, 2019 at 6:14 am #33499CurryParticipantThanks everyone for the advice. I really appreciate it. Very helpful
October 22, 2019 at 9:57 am #33500BEATSLINGERParticipantIf I might, sounds to me like you need to find someone that deals with “Sync Licensing, and not a Library”
That way you can stay in control of your older material, leave it the way it is in several platforms; and still be able to “find/procure” sync placements to get some mileage out of them.Moving forward, I wouldn’t try to “Pitch/Place” the older material with ANY “Production Libraries/Catalogs non-exclusive OR exclusive.”
Start writing new pieces, and look at those as your starting point to Production Music, and Library/Catalog.
October 22, 2019 at 5:51 pm #33501CurryParticipant@beatslinger – yup, that makes sense. Thanks! ????
October 22, 2019 at 6:04 pm #33502BEATSLINGERParticipant@beatslinger – yup, that makes sense. Thanks! ????
The Question Marks are in regards to?
I have a feeling I know, but Sync Licensing, is a LOT like a Pair of Bi-Focals. Might Fit My Needs, but it can cause a LOT of Problems, and/or Damage if it’s the WRONG Prescription.
There are a LOT of “Agencies” out there, and a LOT of them are right in the “Access Music Libraries” section here on MLR
October 22, 2019 at 8:37 pm #33503CurryParticipantMy fist pump emoji turned to “???” ‘for some reason Lol
November 5, 2019 at 2:00 pm #33588Marc JacksonGuestIf the contract is for sync only and not for ownership of publishing, then you can do an exclusive sync license and still distribute any way you like. But if a quote or better still, a license is requested for synchronization, then the holder of the exclusive sync rights would be the go-to for the quote, licensing and fund distribution regardless of how the song was acquired. An exclusive sync deal would restrict you as the writer or anyone else to license the song. With songs you are releasing and promoting yourself, I would recommend doing deals for sync that don’t own publishing at all. You could have them quote for master and pub OBO of you the writer, but not share pub ownership. I hope that makes sense.
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