Don’t do THIS when signing a sync deal
October 25, 2022
I am starting to hear more and more nightmare stories about contracts from songwriters and composers.
If you are considering signing with a library or agent, please watch this first!
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I got out of one contract where an agent took 50% of the publishing. Lucky it was only a one year deal. Libraries I find all now want 50% of publishing in perpetuity. I have some of my instrumental tracks with a library in such a deal. I’d never do that with vocals songs, but it does seem the norm unfortunately.
It’s common, but as you can see from some of the comments above not exclusively. You just need to do some legwork to find the ones who won’t lock you in forever.
Hello, yes! My very first contract was an "in perpetuity" deal which I had no idea what it meant. This deal was with a very famous person/library. Although there was a 3-year clause in it, it still mentioned the "p" word. After the 3-year timeframe, they never did anything with the song so I put it in writing and luckily he released it. I know under other circumstances I could have lost one of the best songs I ever created…my very first neo-soul song but I was blessed to have a good outcome. I did learn what the word meant and now I look for it in any contract that I’m offered.
Phew! Good to hear, Vonee.
I’m about to sign with a publisher for 5 years. 50% of publishing goes to them and besides the admin part they will look also for sync placements and scoring work.
Good to see you have a term on the contract, Bruno.
Hi Chris, I signed a deal exclusivly with a library with a revision clause of 2 years. If the song gets at least 3 placements they keep it in perpetuity, if not then I get to decide if I want to renew the contract. But I was wondering when in exclusivity does it just sit in the cue with the other songs, or do they actually try and pitch it?
Thanks
Ed
That’s interesting, Edward. Exclusivity just means they are the only ones who can pitch the song for sync licensing deals. It doesn’t mean whether or not they actively pitch it. With the way the deal is setup is sounds like they are active since they have to hit the goal to extend the contract, but feel free to reach out to an entertainment lawyer to get proper advice on this.
I’d like to know how to get started finding a music supervisor
It’s unfortunately far too much for a comment here, Kenneth. My job in connecting indie musicians with music supervisors and I’ll be holding a masterclass on how to do that in January. Keep your eye on your inbox.
Thank you for this Chris, a great heads-up! I’m just getting ready to pitch a song for the first time.
Glad I could help!
Chris, I’m sending you an email with my story. It’s a doozy. I’d rather not put the details here publicly as you may know the music library involved.
Thank you brother!
Gene O.
http://www.geneo.rocks
Ok, thanks Gene.
That makes perfect sense Chris. In the past, I have had offers to sign "in perpetuity" contracts & I have turned them all down for just the reasons you talk about. I presently have a few of my tunes assigned exclusively to a library but the term is only 2 years. That doesn’t worry me because it is a fairly short term & I know I can get out of it in 2 years. Thanks for the heads-up.
Sounds like you are doing things right, Doug.
Good post Chris. Best advice is refrain from signing any deal without legal counsel.
Totally agreed when you don’t understand the contract or need other suggestions.
Thanks, Chris! Not overreacting! Based on my own experience with a major publishing deal (in perpetuity), I agree with you. Even for a publishing deal, I would now encourage writers to negotiate a reversion clause if and when the songs have not been actively promoted for a certain period of time. In my case, I signed a 50/50 publishing deal in 1989 for 22 of my songs and, although I received about $60K up front, the songs (all authentic 1990s!) are now sitting on the shelf in perpetuity. I did negotiate a reversion clause, but it requires me to pay back the $60K, which I am not yet able to do. The publisher has gotten too big (managing a major pop star) to pitch them… and the supes don’t want to pitch them either, because they are not technically one-stop. My publisher has promised in writing to approve any sync deal that I approve (which sounds like one stop to me), but, so far, that has not been enough reassurance for the supes who like those songs to pitch them. So, there they sit on the shelf… at least until a supe decides to take a chance on them… or I buy them back… hopefully, before perpetuity! So, that is my longwinded way of saying thank you for your reminder and video! Ria
Sorry to hear that, Ria. Hopefully you manage to get your songs back.
Hi Chris, I think you are absolutely right. Sounds like some people/groups are getting a little greedy. Thank you for reminding us about having the exit clause which you’ve taught us before.
Greed is normal in world, it is up to us to make sure it doesn’t impact us negatively.
This is great. Thank you. I have a concern with a library I am with. I have placements on 36 episodes of a history channel show. All I am seeing is a percentage of the the publishing. They get 50% and my co-writer and I get 25% each. I have not seen any additional monies from them, ie; sync fees. The contract is 3 years but I feel that 709$ is peanuts for do no on 36 episodes.
That doesn’t sound very good and looks like they are keeping the sync fees.
In a situation like that Chris how would you go about getting your sync fees? having not seen the contract it may not be easy to answer but surely you do not waiver the right to sync fees? Is what they are doing legitimate business practice?
I assume you would have a legal route with this? Thanks.
Chris! Thank you for your guidance. This is very helpful.
Of course! That’s what I am here for. 🙂
Very helpful – thanks Chris!
Glad you liked it, Ed.
Yup. With you on this one. No need to sign this kind of deal. There are books that give info about contacts also to understand the language a bit more. For example, Confessions of A Music Producer is one that comes to mind. It’s not about licensing per say but gives good wisdom on the music business that can be applied in this particular case of contracts in the licensing world.
Great recommendation, GL.
Great post Chris but respectfully I somewhat disagree.
1. If that library gets you syncs of your song they have forever increased the value of that song. So for a licensing company to ask to be apart of that song forever isn’t crazy to me. I don’t think it should be all of the publishing but if licensing companies are going to stay in business long term, which is a good thing for everyone they need to be able to sustain themselves too. They are offering a service that permanently increases the value of the artists song. What I would say is don’t give away ALL your publishing on a song but giving away some of it will incentivize the licensing company to continue to seek out placements for the song.
The issue is usually you will HAVE to give them all your Publishing (unless you have some clout). Even if you could only give them say 20% of your Publishing that would mean the next Publisher can only get 80% of it and will probably walk away. Lastly, let’s say they do get you a placement but it’s a 5 second fade out on a Reality show and you get $20, is it worth it to give them lifetime rights to the song for that?
Well said, Chris.
The problem is you won’t know if the company will get you syncs before you sign the contract. Given that there are typically thousands or millions of songs in a library you are competing against, the odds are against you. This is the advantage of an exit clause because once you figure out they are a good fit, you can choose to sign on with them for another period. There is always a choice though and if in perpetuity works for you, go for it.
I like this input! It’s a good reminder.
Thanks Athenah.
Hi Chris. I was hoping this topic would come up at some point because It happened to me years ago when I just started getting into sync and I didn’t have the experience I have today. It only happened to me once and I only signed one song in perpetuity to that particular library. There was nothing shady going on and the owner was clear and upfront with me about the contract. I simply didn’t know any better. The song did get some placements, but I believe it would have done better if I had the freedom to pitch it as I saw fit. Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda…It’s too late now!!!! Lesson learned….at the expense of a good song though!!!
Thx for bringing up this topic Chris
Best
Ante Novaselic
As you said, lesson learned. Now you know and it won’t happen again which is a good thing.
I took notes as i like to do on this last year i think on one of the online webinars but i dont know who said it but it was either you Chris or maybe Michael elsner.
"Content ID In perpetuity clause (means forever)
Always read the fine print. In sync libraries some have a content ID clause to agree to (in perpetuity) it means for life.That clause means that even though the artist is able to have content in multiple libraries those songs still have to remain in that companies content ID forever. So even though the library could present a non exclusive agreement it can become none and void because you still have this artist tied down forever in the content ID. So other libraries the song may also be placed in will get content ID flags so this artist would now have to go back forever to this company and ask them to clear the content ID every time the song would get a placement opportunity in another non exclusive library.
Always read the fine print because sometimes what appears non exclusive isnt always the case.
So if you do get true to form non exclusive agreements in non exclusive libraries that can really work as it allows you to get your music in multiple libraries.
Reputation is everything. Reputation is gold."
Congrats to all you sync winners out there on your placements and thanks for all you do Chris in enlightening us on the topic.
Great advices, Ray, and thanks for the kind words.
Very important matter and very common, so thank you for making a blog on this, Chris.
I have had to deal with situations like this quite a few times and upon giving them some serious thought, I have declined most. Luckily, with some background in business in general and music business in particular, I was familiar with the ”p" clause (along with exclusivity and such). I will spare the details of those earlier contracts and discuss what I am currently dealing with, involving a publisher (who has given me some micro-syncs before) who wants to put many of my songs in two libraries. I have no idea if this publisher will push for syncs, but says one of those libraries "has a strict policy of once (a song is) uploaded and accepted it must stay in the catalog for their customers to license…" (I am reading this means perpetually maybe, though it doesn’t specify?), but it is a non-exclusive deal and they will retitle each song. The other library is mainly for the European market (they directly license to malls, restaurants, and nightclubs). I can keep the master and copyright on the original titles, but will have to share "50% of all royalties" with this publisher (not clear if the writer’s share has to be shared as well).
The funny thing is, the deal is only casually stated (as above) in the body of an email. When I asked if there should be paperwork (i.e., a formal written agreement), I simply got "I’d write something up and send it" (which also sounds very casual to me). The only good thing is, I know this publisher for long, through mutual friends, we met in person as well, and like I said before, he gave me a couple of small syncs for two songs that he licensed for me for some game apps for a ridiculously minuscule amount (I am even embarrassed to mention the sum). Again that was very casual stuff with no paperwork.
So how does this sound? Okay to go ahead with this, which might bring a few more bucks someday (better than nothing)? Just don’t want to sign off the writer’s share or do anything stupid. I am thinking, let me wait and see what the so-called "write-up" looks like and then I will act accordingly. Apparently many sync agents and publishers do not quite know well what "royalties" really mean. BMI’s David Streit agreed with me when I showed him a couple of briefs from this same publisher a few months ago when a single song was picked by them for licensing and I was debating what I should do. I in fact agreed, but I don’t think no effort was made to get it placed. So we are back to "square one."
Hi Ban,
I can’t unfortunately give you any legal advice with this, so my advice is to consult with an entertainment lawyer upfront. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money and would be a smart thing to do.
Thanks for the advice, Chris, personally I never had problems like this working with labels, but syncing is quite different, and it’s something I didn’t approach before (and now I’d like to), so I’ll definitely pay much more attention reading a contract!
Great to hear, Mike.
New in the business, in the learning stages. I’m very low budget getting what can for free until i can get where i can afford more.
Great strategy, Cliff. Just know when you are ready, there are shortcuts to the top than just learning online.
Good advice. Thank you!
Great to hear, Joe.
I’ve always believed no to an exclusive contract, unless there is money upfront. They have a vested interest and will promote.. no money up front, then you’ll be stuck in library and never heard of again….
I have to disagree with you there, Marvin. There are some excellent exclusive contracts out there and those are typical of high end agents and libraries. It actually gives them more motivation because they feel like they aren’t being undercut. Just make sure you have an exit clause if it doesn’t work out.
Thanks for the up to date info Chris. I still have not signed any sync licence deals. Franman
Ok, well if you are offered one, make sure you pay attention to the timeframe in it.
Learn something new every day. Thank you! 😊
Glad you liked it, Clinton!
Great clear tips, thank you!
You are very welcome, Clara.
I have not signed a sync deal yet, so great to have this information now. I know when the time arrives, and it will, I will have to do my due diligence when it comes to signing a contract. Thanks for your insight Chris.
👍
Hi Chris,
Thanks very much for the advice, and to everyone else who shared their stories. It has cast a light on some of the pros and cons, & helped me realise the kind of contract to avoid.
Really happy to hear that, Jaquelina.
never sign forever
Correct! 🙂
Hey Chris, I fell for this a few years ago when I signed with Audiosparx. I opted in to have them be my publisher in perpetuity for a few songs. I didn’t really give the "perpetuity" much thought. I just thought it was such a great thing to have a publisher for my music. Luckily it was a non-exclusive publishing deal, so I do have the option to work with other companies. This is a good thing to know for people wanting to get into sync licensing.
Yes, sometimes people sign because it feels good to have someone who says they are going to help you with your music. Lesson learned and now you know. Thanks for sharing.
Excellent advice, Chris, and yes – always have that Exit Clause.
Bingo.
I agree with you, Chris. Forever is a very long time. No one should be blinded by upfront money. Sure, you can always write more music but each song is a piece of yourself. Manage it carefully.
Well, it depends on how much the upfront money is. I think there comes a point where you could sign a deal in perpetuity, just not for a maybe.
I had a record label deal offered once where they owned my songs, not just the masters, in perpetuity. They said, "You’ll make your money from touring". I said, "Not if they’re not hits, and you’ll still own my songs".
I passed on the deal.
Good move it sounds like.
Thank-you, Chris, and to folks sharing their experiences here. I look forward to my first sync licensing contract! I just had a label write me and I was so nervous I haven’t even responded yet. (!) ALL of your videos are invaluable. Grazie Grazie Grazie
Don’t wait too long, Wendy. Best of luck!
Hi this is Dj dinka beatz from Las Vegas Nevada
👍
Hey Chris,
What do you think of a deal that’s non-exclusive with big money up front?
Super rare but sounds intriguing.