Beat selling/legal questions

[Elliottproducer]

Hello producers.

My question is about Soundclick and selling beats through MyFlashPlayer and a VIP page. I look at all of the top 25 artists pages, and see lot of key words like: contracts included, royalty free etc..

My question is this deeper than me just posting some beats on a web page with a price linked to my bank account? Should I gather some sort of contracts, or even hire a lawyer?

Thanks, I ask this as I've been accumulating a music library over the course of time, which is nearly ready to be released and I'm confident I can make sales. I'd love to have everything sorted beforehand.

 

[bandcoach]

here we hit the point where we stop being musicians and start being businessmen/women

a contract is designed to protect your interests if it does not then you have been scammed by the other party

having a lawyer that you can consult about these issues is good.

Royalties are a residual source of income: they are payable whenever a track is used on radio, tv, film, live performances, raves, festivals, whatever. Unless you create a work for hire, you should not give up your royalty stream (i.e. royalty free) without good cause. TV and Film also have synchronisation rights which you should never give up for anything but works-for-hire.

In terms of pricing:
leases are in seen as low value as they can be recycled, high turn-over low price = lots of money long term as well as the royalties that accrue
exclusives are priced at a higher level: $500-$5000 depending on who. they are a one shot deal - an exclusive means just that no-on else gets to use it, royalties still accrue
work for hire (ghost writing): pays the most because you are giving away other rights as well - residual income streams are usually non-existent as you are allowing someone else to say that they wrote it

however, I would suggest that you write up the terms and conditions of sales of the three main types (leases, exclusives, works-for-hire) before you consult them - identify what it is you believe you are giving to your client in terms of each and what you expect in return. This will allow the lawyer to draw up the contracts to reflect your expectations.

the degree to which you decide to embrace business practices will determine how much of the above you need to worry about for now