| |
I just got
an email from a Songbridge subscriber who had been contacted by an artist interested
in recording her songs. The artist wanted to know if the writer wanted to sell
the rights to the songs outright or did she want mechanical licenses issued for
use. Our subscriber is a lovely songwriter, yet not familiar with the proper processes
so she asked for my advice.
The first thing I told her was unless this
artist was Celine Dion or Shania Twain don't give up the rights to your songs
to anyone. But if it was one of the afore mentioned artists then kiss your songs
goodbye and bet your lucky stars a cut on one of their CDs would put you on the
map and you would become one of the most highly sought after tunesmiths world
wide. Granted, you'd loose out on the big bucks a cut from Celine would generate…
but you'd have a ton of artists scrambling for your tunes.
If the artist
looking for the rights to your songs is not Celine, but simply an unknown indie
artist I would never recommend selling your rights. "Beats" are a different story
which we will touch on another time.
I suggested the writer issue a "permission
to use form" and create a time limit on the "hold" such as 3 or 6 months.
A major label artist would require a longer time frame, due to their time and
budget allowance. The majors may take years to complete a recording, and will
lay down more than enough tracks. If you're really lucky, your song will make
it to the final cut. Due to the fact there are different levels of indie artists,
from developing unknowns to relatively well known, let the length of your hold
be based on the credibility of the artist.
You can continue to send the
song out to other artists during the hold and if a second artist is interested
you can tell them the song is unavailable for another month or so and you will
notify them of the situation then. Recording sessions fall through all the time
for one reason or another: the artist is getting divorced and lost her budget
or the guitarist broke his arm and the artist won't use anyone else, so if you
put a time limit on the hold you free up the song so you can continue to shop
it.
Some writers employ the concept of "throw enough s#!t at the wall
and something will stick" when submitting their songs, and other writers will
only send their material to artists with previous releases, a manager, a producer,
and a scheduled recording session.
Why? Because they know this is a serious
project, less likely to fall through, and their song has a better chance of creating
earnings.
It is entirely up to you, the final decision always rests in
your hands. I can only hope you realize the value contained in maintaining the
rights to your songs. Royalties can be generated for years to come.
Don't
sell them or yourself short. Till
next time Jana
|
