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Yes, I’ve provided my own paperwork directly to customers in the past. No advise really; I don’t recall having any problems.
A question is, why are they already distributing this app without a contract in place and compensation to you? Aside from that, I think the fact that they are selling the app is important and makes the license fee more valuable than a “non-broadcast not for sale” license. Also, this is not a one song deal. Twelve tracks is decent amount of content. You also need to consider if these are existing tracks or were they custom created for the app. Custom writing is also more valuable.
One way to approach this is basing it on what it would cost them if they used a company like pond5. I’ve had “Premium License” sales of $140 (before the split). So $1,680 wouldn’t be out of the question. Of course you saved them hours of work, they didn’t have to search through thousands of tracks to find what they need.
It’s tricky to price now, with music so devalued, subscription sites and etc. Good luck!
Personally, I find Monday mornings good for business tasks and planning out my week, before really focusing on the music.
I don’t find one day a week enough! I try to split everyday between business and music. Mornings for shopping music, tagging, research, spreadsheets and all. Afternoons for writing.
If a company sends you a 1099 misc for sync fees or royalties paid to you by their company, that 1099 will get filed with the IRS as income paid to you. Therefore you must report that as income earned on your tax return..
I think it’s important to mention that you must report all income, regardless of if you receive a 1099 or not. For example, companies don’t have to send a 1099 for income of less than $600 (even though they might). It’s also possible income for live shows will never be 1099ed.
>Under the MMA, composers must register with the new MLC to receive these mechanical royalties.<
We’re not going to get any music created, using all our time to register with these organizations. I just recently spent too much time updating with Music Reports including organizing ISRC codes. Then I turned my attention to SoundExchange. I created a custom spread sheet of many cues, only to be rejected because not all had UPC numbers. Which means I have to release my music and recreate the spread sheet. But wait, I have to see what AudioSparx’s mysterious October 15th “private communication” instructs me regarding SoundExchange. And now I have to add registering with MLC because of MMA. OMG, make it stop. 🙂
If a products license agreement is not readily available on the company’s website, I always ask the company to email it to me before I purchase. If all looks agreeable, I purchase the product and print a hard copy of the license agreement for my files.
in 2005 i used to use pump audio
It’s very different now from 2005. Pump was adsorbed by Getty Images. You can submit to Getty but if you opt out of their performance royalty free model they’ll most likely reject the submission. And they take 65%. Also, non-exclusive deals are harder to come by. Some companies that were non-exclusive in 2005 are now exclusive, if they exist at all. There are new companies, and business models. It’s going to take a lot of research on your end. There’s no simple answer to “which is best for” questions.
I agree with LAwriter here. The client appears to be asking if you would clear the track for sampling and, if so, how much would you charge?
I agree also.
Absolutely. And remember the old saying “Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity”. Which wasn’t really true in this story. 🙂
To be more helpful, here is a smooth jazz track I did some time ago. The track is dated and has its problems but the drums and bass groove nicely.
Maybe re-visit the drums? A bit stiff, repetitive and programmed for me. (apologies if a real drummer, but must be MIDI…)
But isn’t writers uploading their music everywhere, making ill advised deals, and not understanding anything about anything what we complain about all the time here? Aren’t those the points that we site concerning the devaluation of music and the race to the bottom? I wouldn’t hold this story up as advice to others to follow or consider it amazing. It’s a story of luck, and the same luck could be found in making smart deals and understanding how the business works.
Jesse, most of my income comes from custom writing songs for the educational market. Whatever the client says, goes. I may think I’ve provided the greatest song ever, but if they say slow it down, change the melody and make it shorter then I say how slow, how much shorter and where should the melody change. And you know what, sometimes it actually makes for a better song. At least for the intended purpose.
So it’s easy for me to take that attitude over to library work. Like LAwriter says, you have to stay unattached. If you are happy not to change it to get placements, it may be a candidate (as is) for streaming radio/background music deals or compilation albums instead.
I think you are having trouble taking no for an answer.
The first lesson I learned many years ago was to keep vocals sparse and non-specific. I was told things like don’t use proper names and dates. For an example my first publisher said don’t write a song about meeting Mary Christmas time of 2004. It’s not going to fly.
You’ve captured a nice groove in a style very popular these days. If feedback says it’s too wordy and story driven for licensing, make a new version. But you might have grown too attached to it to do so!