Urgent!!!: about to discuss ownership in an Exclusive contract

chrisbanks

chrisbanks

New member
Hello, can somebody help me out?

I'm about to discuss a contract with somebody and I need some assistance in the Exclusive rights field. I'm unsure how the ownership works when dealing Exclusive rights to a customer.


Should the customer receive "full ownership" every time I sell Exclusive rights? Could I still retain the ownership after selling Exclusive rights? or does that all just depend on what ownership stipulation is included within the contract?
 
I have no knowledge of contracts but from an artist view I'm on the side of the customer receiving full ownership.
 
It all depends on your agreement. The whole "leasing beats" thing is very unique to Hip-Hop; i.e., no one else does anything like that anywhere else in the music industry that I've ever heard of. But the long and short of it is-- whatever you agree on, and then sign your name to. If you want to retain rights, while giving exclusive use to another artist/producer/entity (which seems rather like an oxymoron to me, but), you'd have to spell it out in your contract, and avoid the term "work for hire" like the plague.

Disclaimer-- NOT an attorney, nor am I dispensing anything that should be construed as "legal advice."

GJ
 
So I just talked to another producer about it and he tells me selling the exclusive rights is selling the ownership along with it, period. He also pointed out that you can keep your publishing? He didn't explain anymore though. How would I go about keeping my publishing but selling the ownership? This is starting to get really confusing.
 
Right. He is wrong (unless you state in the contract specifically that they have ownership, in which case he is right). Do you have your own publishing company set-up? If you don't, and you're going to be doing this, you should. There are a lot of rights involved in the music business-- the song rights themselves (publishing), the master recording rights (the copyright to any particular recorded version), grand rights (usage in theater productions), and sync licensing (film and television), and royalty rights (for producers or artists that record for a label, but aren't the writers or publishers, for instance). Plus Internet sales and plays, which have kind of become their own thing. The publishing rights usually are administered by a publisher (publishing company), but artist-owned companies are set-up for that purpose as well. There are two different income streams that come from publishing-- the publisher's share, and the writer's share (which is split between any co-writers). If you are the writer, and also the publisher, you get both. You have to be affiliated with a performing rights organization (they take a cut for collecting payments) if you want to get paid for radio and TV airplay. The major organizations are ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC.

That's about all I feel like typing right now, bruh. This is a deep subject and you should learn your business. A lot of what's done in hip-hop, as I said, is in complete contrast to the rest of the business, because the practice of artists and labels and executive producers buying tracks outright became the norm long ago. It is still the norm, only for much, much less money than it used to be. Or, people get into the "beat leasing" thing which is not my area of expertise. But, you really need to get some good books on standard music industry practices. One that is very popular and pretty comprehensive is Donald Passman's book. Another was by the late-great producer Kashif. There are also a bunch of guides on publishing, and there used to be a book that came out annually called "The Song Writer's Market;" not sure what's happened with that in the digital age. But do your reading and your due diligence. Seek the counsel of a competent music/intellectual property attorney. It's good to know what you're talking about, even if you only make a couple of hundred bucks. If you "sell" that song, and it becomes a hit in 20 years, you're going to wish you had paid attention, and/or you'll want to know how to (attempt) to access some $$...

GJ
 
Here's the short version:

Typically when you sell "an exclusive" to a rapper you are selling the "exclusive usage rights" which is in essence a usage license.

Unfortunately most artists think that "usage rights" and "ownership of copyright" are the same thing.

They are not.

Now this doesn't mean that Producers don't sell beats like that because some do (eg:sell the beat's copyrights - google "work for hire") - but typically the ones that do ask for a lot more money up front.

Something to think about.

Also: Publishing only comes into play after an artist recoups the label's (and possibly others) investments. So, if the artist never blows chances are there will be very little (if any) publishing royalties for you to collect - so price your beats accordingly.

Good luck.
 
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SFTRAXX was doing great until that last bit about publishing. The _exact opposite_ is true; publishing has nothing to do with recouping a record company advance (unless the artist is the songwriter is the publisher and signed some cockamamie deal). Everyone that knows, knows that publishing is where the actual money is in songwriting.

So, again, do your due diligence. Do Not get your info from other producers that are at your same level of knowledge, and Do Not get your important business intell from Internet forums (yup, FP included). You probably don't have time to study all you need to immediately, so I suggest competent legal advice.

GJ
 
@gj

My statement was kinda based on the "unless" statement you presented.

Quite a few cats are still falling for the "banana in the tailpipe" because they didn't read what they signed (or didn't sign anything) and so what you get upfront may be all you get... #jusSayin

You are right however, and I agree that Publishing is where the money is if you are working with artists that follow the "traditional" music biz model.

But we are talking about rappers who buy beats online and it moves a little differently.

You said it yourself: "The whole "leasing beats" thing is very unique to Hip-Hop; i.e., no one else does anything like that anywhere else in the music industry that I've ever heard of...."

Based upon that understanding - is where my answer came from.

Appreciate ya steppin in tho and you are right - @chrisbanks should mos def do his homework and then seek out legal council.

:D
 
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@rhythmgj and @SFTRAXX where is the money for artists who are not and do not care to be supported by a traditional music biz model
 
@ogBama

As a rapper (based off what I've heard and have been told) revenue steams are typically from shows, merch, features and your music sales.

Pretty much the same as "the traditional" music biz model.

To clarify: When i said "traditional" in the previous post I was referring to the artist (or label) actually publishing the completed work correctly which I've noticed a lot of cats don't do. They'll just record their vocals over the music, then have it "mixed and mastered" and then upload it to the digital platforms for sale.

Additionally these artists may or may not credit the beatmaker for the music because they believe that an exclusive license is a transfer of copyright.
 
Your first question OG ($?), that is what we are all asking and have been since the "new era" came into being. Y'know, the land of milk and honey that the Internet was supposed to be. For rappers, as with other artists, touring/live shows, and merch are still where you can make money, if you can make sales (which is not a given). Now that physical product is coming back, we'll see. The real money has always been in owning/administrating the copyrights, and that's a mixed bag in the hip-hop world, for many reasons, including those SFTRAXX has already mentioned. For all kinds of artists, sync-licensing (Movies, TV, commercials) was the new frontier, but in the last 5-10 years, that has become jammed-up as well, with so many artists and producers looking for avenues to make some coin. That revenue has decreased considerably because everyone is in the game ("GarageBand America," as it were).

Your second question (proper publishing)-- Get signed to a publisher, or better yet, create your own publishing company that is associated with either ASCAP or BMI (it doesn't cost much; used to be about $100, but I don't know now-days). Then your tunes are signed to your own publishing company, and if there ever is any action, you have an umbrella covering your music, it's already connected with a P.R.O. (performing rights organization), and you know how to (attempt!) to track airplay and performance royalties (at least domestically... foreign is something else entirely).

GJ
 
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