Hey,

I know several members on this forum are involved with or pursuing various sync licensing companies for songs as either A.) "opportunities" (one shot cash on the barrel head deals for single use television spots, for example) or B.) as "blanket licenses" where you may get paid if someone streams your stuff in restaurants or decides to use it in a t.v. show four years from now and use it and over and over. A.) is easy. B.) gets tricky because you can get thrown into streaming services OR performance royalty situations. You have to read the payment term descriptions of these multiple use opportunities very carefully.

I sought answers from one source and the answers I got were somewhat complex as to which bucket my songs might eventually eventually fall into (performance royalty or streaming usage) since they said "well that is all decided on a case by case basis--it depends. You have to study the deal terms."

Since "it depends" is not an answer I feel entirely comfortable with I called a rep at ASCAP (where I have both a publishing ID and a songwriter ID) and she said:

"Hey, it's this simple. Never sign any agreement with anybody if the agreement does not say that the client will give you copies of monthly or at least quarterly cue sheets sent to ASCAP should they decide to use your songs on t.v. or ads. If you do not see that in the agreement, don't do it. If it is not in there, demand it. Period and end of sentence."

I know people like Herb have a profound knowledge of this domain and might be able to shed a little light on safeguards to put into place or things to watch out for before you rush too fast into posting songs on all these sync licensing boards.

Herb? Joanne?

Any other experts with advice or cautionary tales?

Yeah...read the agreement before you sign it. Don't obsess over it. Be sure you understand what it says and what you're agreeing to do in writing. Then sign it, agree to it and get your music into the good libraries. You really need to understand the ownership rights to the song. Do you retain them or are you giving them away? Giving them away is not necessarily a bad thing. But you got to know.

Non-exclusive use allows you to keep ownership and writers share. Exclusive deals require giving up ownership (copyright transfer to publisher) while retaining the writer's share and writing credits. This isn't discussing mechanical rights which are something else and not something we deal with often in the film & TV music world.

Other than that....

Write, record, submit, forget it.... repeat.

This is my rule for the non-exclusive libraries. I don't worry about the details. The more you have signed into libraries regardless of the details of the misc income streams, the more you make. I understand the basic agreement and the 50/50 (or other) split I have agreed with. The rest, I don't worry about. The other option is be greedy for every one ten thousandth of a penny from foreign streaming. If you don't sign, don't expect any money. I've known people who refused to sign music to publishers over what would have amounted to pennies, maybe a few dollars at most because they don't want to be "cheated" out of a dime. How dumb is that?

The mindset is that everyone thinks they have the next biggest worldwide smash hit song that's going to make them a multi-millionaire and they don't want to leave a single dollar (or penny) on the table. The reality is.... you got a better chance at picking the 6 lotto numbers and the power ball next Wed night than penning the next mega hit song. With the lotto, they say if you ain't in it you can't win it.... well the same thing applies to the music licensing business. If you worry about pennies and don't sign for that reason, you will never have you music played and used commercially.

Unless you get a cut on a major artist's CD.... you're not going to be making a lot of money anyway. That would be an exclusive deal and would warrant having legal advice on the contract before signing to be sure the "t"s are crossed and the "i"s are dotted. That is a totally different situation. Apples to oranges.

100% agree with what herb says. Write, submit and forget. Recycle. Be “miracle ready” but don’t give up your day job!!!

Right now I have 25 songs licensed all through blanket deals. 70 were shortlisted and probably three times as much as that submitted.

I know a couple have gone onto compilation type albums. One song has 450,000 listens/views but where from I do not know. I tried to ask them but they could not tell me. My account still reads 0.00 USD.

I am trying for the “A” type deals because I can get stuff done very quickly and specific to the opportunity (like the Theremin one, I have submitted 4 different tracks, 2 of which have been shortlisted). BUT there is huge competition for these and the quality of the tracks being submitted is unbelievable.

Thanks Herb and Joanne,

Great info!!

What Herb and Joanne said. It's paid me a few dollars over the years.