Are you devaluing your music by signing non-exclusive license agreements?
Do music supervisors privilege exclusive deals?
What are the risks of signing an exclusive deal?
Are you shooting yourself in the foot every time you sign a non-exclusive deal with a new music library?
These are some of the questions that come up every time musicians receive an offer to license their music.
I’ve got you covered with this article.
The Non-Exclusive License Agreement
Definition
When you license one of your songs through a non-exclusive agreement, this is what happens:
- You are the licensor
- You give the licensee (e.g. a production music library) the right to offer your song to a third-party
- The third-party can purchase the right to use your song
- The licensee pays you part of the fee received from the third-party
- You can sign another non-exclusive agreement with another licensee to shop that same song around to third-parties
Advantages of the non-exclusive license agreement
- Your song is not tied down with one company who may or may not find you licensing opportunities
- You can maximize small opportunities
The Exclusive License Agreement
Definition
When you license one of your songs through an exclusive agreement, this is what happens:
- You are the licensor
- You give the licensee (e.g. a production music library) the right to offer your song to a third-party
- The third-party can purchase the right to use your song
- The licensee pays you part of the fee received from the third-party
- You can NOT sign another agreement with another licensee to shop that same song around to third-parties.
Note: we’re talking of exclusive deals that cover a given set of songs. That is not the same as exclusive deals for the composer’s entire existing and future catalogue.
Definitely don’t sign one of those unless you get paid a huge advance!
Advantages of the exclusive license agreement
- Music supervisors are more likely to consider it because they know they’re getting the best price
i.e. there are not 20 music libraries selling the same track for less and the song won’t be used on 100 low-quality projects, thus devaluing the project the music supe’s working on
- You are more likely to get a fair price for the sync fee…
…unless you gave exclusivity to a really cheap music library. Don’t do that. That’s a crazy thing to do! 🙂 )
- Advance
If you can negotiate it that is…. A tough ask, especially when you’re just starting out.
Biggest risks when you sign an exclusive or non-exclusive agreement?
In the case of an exclusive license agreement, you risk handing out your hard work to a company who doesn’t get you a single placement.
If you’re an indie singer/songwriter, that could mean a couple of years working hard to put together your album down the drain in the snap of a finger.
With non-exclusive deals, the biggest risk is devaluing your reputation as a serious music composer.
The emergence of hundreds of non-exclusive music libraries pitching a similar catalogue with seemingly random prices has led music supervisors to focus on music they can license exclusively.
How do you get the best of both worlds?
Here’s a simple trick to enjoy the advantages of non-exclusive deals without being perceived as a little nobody musician: use pseudonyms.
So simple!
There’s nothing stopping you from uploading some of your songs to non-exclusive music libraries under a pseudonym. That leaves you free to place another section of your catalogue with a more premium agency looking for exclusivity.
Now to be clear: you should NOT, under any circumstances, place a song in a non-exclusive library under a pseudonym and then sign an exclusive agreement under your name for the same song.
This is NOT what I am suggesting at all!
What I am suggesting is that if your catalogue is big enough, you might want to offer say 10 tracks on an exclusive deal and sign non-exclusive deals for another 10.
How to mitigate the risks associated with exclusive deals?
Even when you have a fairly large catalogue, signing a few songs on an exclusive deal can be a little scary.
There’s always the risk that the company isn’t going to get you the placement that would make your initial music making investment worthwhile.
Here are some things I do to limit that risk to a minimum:
Trying to figure out if they’re likely to place my music…
How long have they been around?
Are they currently a big player?
What are the chances that they’ll just disappear (taking my songs with them) in the next few years?
Do they have a huge roaster of composers or will they be hands on and dedicated to my music?
- I limit the costs of making music
Why?
So that, if the library never places my tracks, I haven’t just wasted 20 hours of my time and 300$ on one song that’s never going to make me money.
- I test drive the exclusive deal
How?
I sign over 10-20 tunes and wait 6-12 months before making a further commitment.
- I stay in touch with my contact there
Make sure I stay at the front of their mind in case an opportunity suddenly arises 😉
Where Does That Leave You?
That’s a lot of information and you’re probably still not quite sure what YOU should do.
Here are a few scenarios that might help you make a decision based on:
- the size of your catalogue and
- number of credits you already have or don’t have.
Scenario A: small catalogue, 0-5 credits
Exclusive deals should be a no-no unless you can negotiate an advance or you’re 100% confident (a written guarantee would be best) that your tunes WILL be placed.
Scenario B: medium sized catalogue, 0-5 credits
With 60 tunes or so in your catalogue, you can afford to experiment with a mix of exclusive and non-exclusive deals.
Make sure you do your research before signing an exclusive deal.
And don’t hesitate to use a pseudonym if you’re afraid it could hurt your brand.
Scenario C: small catalogue, 6-10 credits
How did you get those credits? Do more of the same before you change your approach!
With a small catalogue, I recommend non-exclusive deals unless you’re confident that you can grow your song list quickly.
When you have a large catalogue, it doesn’t matter as much if an exclusive deal backfires. You’ll still have some earning potential.
Scenario D: large catalogue, 6-10 credits
If you have credits and a large catalogue, your focus should be on growing your list of credits.
Spend some time to reflect on what’s worked well for you and try to find similar deals.
In the meantime, nothing’s stopping you from signing songs to non-exclusive deals under a pseudonym.
You might even want to use several if you’re very prolific in different genres….
What about that big brown area?
That covers everything above 10 credits and 100 tunes in your catalogue.
If you’re in that position, you’re pretty free to experiment, try new things and take the time to figure out what you enjoy doing, what you’re best at and what works for YOU.
[…] Find out if they sign tracks on exclusive or non-exclusive music licensing deals. If it’s obvious from their website that they’ll want exclusivity of the songs they accept, I would skip it. Unless you’re already experienced in music licensing and know the risks and rewards of exclusive deals. […]
What are credits? And how do I get them?
Hi Steven,
A credit is when you are credited for the music in a project.
ie if your music is credited in a bunch of projects on Imdb for example, you’re in a pretty strong negotiating position since you’re already a recognized music composer.
How do you get them? Well… I invite you to dig into this website’s content and follow other websites like Ari’s Take, the Music Library Report and Stage32 🙂
Very interesting Joyce, you are quite knowledgeable about the subject, I’ll remember. I still reflect about what I will do. Before getting into it, it needs some involvement and commitment.
To let you know, I have registered to your music licencing lesson with New Artist Model. When I’ll finish the Lucrative Home Studio course which I find a very good lesson that helps on the music production and prepare the music to be submitted. I think with all that the result will get through, Amazing today what we can do and share.
Thanks again Joyce.
Keep the good work, always interesting to read you.
Thanks for your kind words, Robert. I really appreciate it 🙂 I’m glad you’re still working hard on music and making progress. Keep going, I’m sure your appetite to do and learn will get you positive results!
Thanks Joyce, for your encouragement! Like you say it is a matter of attitude and perseverance.
LOVE! THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH
You’re welcome! 🙂
Well presented arguments, Joyce, thank you! I’ve been doing this for a little while now and your words resonate with my experience exactly. It really is hard to make that leap with pieces you’ve put your heart and soul into. I’ve been currently rethinking things and trying to possibly do some self-promotion until the right library comes along that wants to purchase the tracks. But that’s just a seedling of an idea for the time being. To be continued… Thanks again.
That’s a great idea! I’ve noticed that quite a few AudioJungle best sellers drive traffic to their AudioJungle page from their personal website. Maybe something to look into?
Hey Joyce!
This is beautifully laid out and succinct. One thing I’m coming to terms is collaborating on works with other artists to pitch to music libraries. Instead of a pseudonym we just combine our names together. Have you seen something like that before? I’m also working on a mnemonic tag (3 second sound design for a logo) and have made several different ones for the company to choose. This would be a one-time exclusive deal and I’ve been trying to figure out the best offer since it won’t be pitched again but will be used with the company in perpetuity of that company. Thoughts? I was thinking of starting at 2k and seeing the counter offer or acceptance. It is a pretty big company.
Hi Alexander,
It’s great to hear from you 🙂
Re the pseudonym question, do you mean the public artist name you use is a combination of both names but then the song is registered as 50% your name, 50% the other songwriter’s name with the PRO?
If that’s the case, I think it’s a really cool idea!
Re the pricing question, it’s tough to say.
Some questions to consider:
– is it a work-for-hire contract or a licensing agreement, ie do you retain ownership of the copyrights?
– if you consider the time you spend on making it, how much would you want to charge per hour of your work to make it worth your while?
– if it’s being used in a specific project, do you know the overall budget for that project, what would 1-3% of that total budget amount to?
– do you have a rough estimate of how many people will hear the tag? 10,000 or 1,000,000 or 10,000,000 or more?
– if it’s a license agreement (or a work-for-hire contract that specifies you’ll still get performance royalties), is the tag likely to be used in projects that will feature on TV or terrestrial radio, ie is it likely that you’ll get royalties down the line?
– is there any way you can find out who they’ve worked with before and what others have charged?
For example, if they’re in the habit of using a company like AudioJungle, 2K is likely to seem expensive to them. But if they regularly hire creatives to make custom music, they’re likely to be ready to pay a premium, especially for a one-time exclusive deal.
However you answer these questions, remember to quote a price that makes it worth your while. Selling yourself short is not conducive to good work 😉
Good luck with this!
Love your site! I have a question. If songs that were in a non-exclusive library become out of contract or the company folds. Can those songs be offered as exclusive again? My guess is no, as some of the songs still make money on re-runs even though the contract has expired. Again, thanks for all your great advice.
Hey Dave, it’ll depend on the situation and the people / companies you’re dealing with. As long as you’re upfront about it, you can probably still get exclusive deals for those songs. You’ll probably want to add a line in the contract to acknowledge the situation.
Hi All!
I hear your comments with the depth of an artists soul! Joyce, thanks for the good comments. I would like to learn more as a composer, artist and a song writer. Thank you!