PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic Publishing Predicament

Ahhhh the pains of being signed to a long term deal.

I'm guessing there was no obligation for you to place songs with them since you were an uncompensated writer, and not a "Staff" writer. There is a big difference. For example, I have publishing deals with companies but I'm not obligated to send them anything and they have no claim over any of the songs I write or where I place them. A careful reading of the contract will let you know if this is the case.

So....read the publishing contract carefully...again. Does it say that "anything you write" while signed belongs to their catalog? If yes...You may very well be obligated legally to have provided them with every song you wrote in the past 3 years....depending on the clauses in the contract of course.

Unless you were being paid by them to write songs for them, which doesn't sound like it is the case, you probably have no obligation to provide the admin BS they are asking you to give them.

Read carefully on how you are to terminate the deal. If you have to write a letter 30 days prior to the ending date and have it delivered my certified mail in triplicate..... you better comply with the cancellation terms. As far as leaving it "AS-IS"..... READ THE CONTRACT AGAIN CAREFULLY. Does it automatically renew if you don't do anything? Do you want to stay tied to a company like that for more 3 year terms? You might indeed just want to let it roll over.... see my comments further along about leaving it as is.

Self publishing.... you really don't need to set up a legal entity and jump through the hoops UNLESS, you are going to set up a publishing house to handle other writers too. In the USA you can be a self publisher without setting up a business. SA might be different. Here, when you register a new work with your PRO.... in my case BMI... I have to assign the writers share equal to 100% to me and share it with any cowriters. There is also a section for the Publishers 100% share and if it's a commercial publisher getting the song published, they get 100% of that amount. If I'm self publishing, I get 100% of the writers share AND 100% of the publishers share. I keep it all.

To clarify..... 100% of the song's total royalties due is divided 50/50 between writer and publisher. Of the 50% for each.... that is considered to be 100% of the writer or publisher share respectively.

If you have the contacts to get your songs into the hands of the producers and artists, and have the time to do that part of the business, you can certainly self publish the music you write. No laws against it. Most folks use publishers and libraries because it's easier and frees us up from having to do that leg work plugging our own songs.

I use libraries and a few publishers. I have not canceled any of the publishing deals or libraries I'm in now. While the original term is long up on several, I leave the music there because there is always the possibility that one day, a producer will hear something of mine and think it's the perfect cut for his TV show or movie..... then I get a check.

Unless your contract says you are legally obligated to Sheer and Sheer alone..... ( doubtful ) you are free to sign with other publishers and libraries. My songs are with several different publishers and at least a dozen film and TV libraries. Just be careful with ONE THING. Never, never assign a song to more then one company UNLESS they are all NON-EXCLUSIVE libraries. If you sign a song with any exclusive publishers or libraries..... basically, consider that song GONE for ever unless you submit the paperwork to recover that song. So when using exclusive pubs, be very certain that they can deliver the goods because you can't plug that song to anyone else without referring the new person or company back to the original company. And you can't use that song personally either..... legally.

If you CANCEL.... be sure to understand their and your rights regarding the stuff you wrote during the time with them. DO they own the publishing rights on that music or does it all revert back to you regardless of when it was written? If it reverts to you.... be sure you go to your PRO ....ASAP and remove Sheer from the publishing. That ensures if something does go stratospheric, you get both shares unless Sheer retains rights to the stuff you wrote and were legally obligated to place with them. If they retain rights, be sure to give them the accounting of the copyright or date of creation or they can sue you for failing to disclose works that you wrote while signed to them.

Gee, isn't the music business fun?

Hope you get this sorted.

edit: I think I answered all of the questions you have... maybe not in the correct order.