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Before submitting to the exclusive, carefully check your contract with the non-exclusive. If you can’t withdraw your track quickly– such as within 30-60 days, you definitely shouldn’t submit it to an exclusive. I wouldn’t actually sign the deal with the exclusive unless you have confirmed that your track was indeed removed from the non-exclusive. Otherwise you are in contract violation.
Keep in mind that many non-exclusive agreements have minimum terms of 2-3 years and some are even in perpetuity. Some libraries will still let you remove on request, even if those are the terms. You’d have to ask.
Just be careful. The last thing you want is to create a mess whereby a library thinks they have an exclusive and finds out another party is still pitching it. Even worse would be a conflict showing up at a music sup which would make EVERYONE look bad.
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Yes, the above is correct. I happened to start an ASCAP publishing entity years ago when it cost little or nothing.
You DO need to have a publishing entity with ASCAP to collect the publisher’s share. However, this is a separate issue from whether you need to have an official “business” established with your state or bank to collect the publisher’s royalties paid to your publishing entity. My experience with ASCAP is I could simply direct deposit to my personal bank acccount.
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I don’t even think, with ASCAP, it’s a matter of direct deposit or not. A publisher can designate how he/she wants the payments made out. Don’t know for sure about BMI.
I know that when I set up direct deposit with ASCAP, the on-line system made it very easy to input my bank account and routing numbers to get it rolling.
I would check with your PRO before asking the bank. Of course, laws might vary depending on what state you live in (talking US residents)… So YMMV…
🙂You really don’t need a biz license, special bank account, etc. You can direct ASCAP or BMI to direct deposit your publisher’s share into a bank account you specify. My publishing royalties (the few scraps that come in) are direct deposited by ASCAP to a checking account in my name.
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Roz: Good idea to give it 2 years.Another question I have is how does one tactfullycommunicate to a library, how is everything proceeding?I try at times to get a little info from them about thingsthey are doing to get my music out and hear very little feedback.I do it in a friendly way, but what are some ways for me to get themto talk to me more so I can provide them with more of what will sellin that company, etc.ThanksRoz
It’s always best to start your email with “Listen F*ckhead!”… HA… 😛 😉
It’s a tough call. You certainly don’t want to contact a library very often and become annoying to them. Many have a “If we have something to tell you, we will” policy. Others, more friendly to the inquiries. You could try after 1-2 years to politely ask if your tracks have been involved in any pitches and if they have any impressions. If they don’t respond, I’d probably let it go unless your email to them had more pressing questions.
The bottom line is as long as you do this very sparingly and are professional & polite, you’ll be fine.
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It’s a good idea to make sure that a reversion clause has a bit more than just “secures a placement”. This is true for traditional publishing deals as well as music library ones. An income test is a good idea but what that $$ value is varies so much for each situation– composer, track, library, etc. Many tracks placed in film/TV never earn $2K in their lifetime, especially with up-front license fees having dropped so much. However, an experienced composer dealing with a higher end library may be able to negotiate $1-2K with that type of income not being unrealistic. In other situations, $250-$500 might be the sweet spot.
If you get offered an exclusive contract with reversion having no qualifiers, nothing wrong with politely asking if the clause could be strengthened. Some libraries will negotiate, some won’t. And then each individual has to decide what’s right for them.