It’s a common matter that is often raised by clients
disputing what they think they may be owed by Record and Publishing companies.
As exciting as it is to be offered and then sign a deal of
either kind what can be forgotten very quickly is that for example: a Record
company signs you as an Artist. They have negotiated terms that you mutually
agree at the beginning of your recording relationship. You have accepted an
‘Advance’ on future potential income from the sale of your records. The record
company has invested considerable sums of monies in the marketing, promotion,
manufacturing of your single as well as the expense of creating a promotional
video to support your singles release. All of these elements have left your
account considerably in the ‘red’ before you have sold one single record.
It is completely the right of the record company to recoup
every single penny of their original investment before another penny is paid
through to you as a royalty for the accumulative sales of your single and from
the publishers royalty balance sheet for broadcasting on commercial radio
across the UK and if you are fortunate enough from International transmissions
of your single.
This you have to understand and accept can take a
considerable amount of time. As collection societies pay through to recording
and publishing companies at different periods of time throughout the year.
Whereas it may take 6 – 12 months to receive income from UK based sales and
broadcasts it can take anywhere between 6 months and two years to finally
receive income from foreign sales. A territory in South America such as
Argentina will not have the prompt collection network that countries including
The United States, France or Germany may have, so therefore it will have a
direct impact on the timeline for distribution and collection of broadcasting
and record sales. All these factors have to be understood if you as a working songwriter
are to stay afloat in such a competitive industry let alone make a career
earning sufficient income to exist comfortably.
An element often overlooked by a burgeoning artist/composer
is exactly what rights they are assigning to a record company or music
publisher and for exactly how long those rights will be owned by the
label/publisher. You’ve just been offered the opportunity of your lifetime; a
Record deal or a Publishing deal. They’re willing to offer you money for your
songs. Put you into a professional recording studio with a named Producer. The
last thing you want to practically think about is twenty years into your future
career. You can barely think about tomorrow you are so excited. But if you are
currently managing your own affairs you need to think about the clause in your
contract that refers to ‘Retention Periods’. This is the clause that states how
long the record company or publishing company will own your copyright in the
sound recording for the record company and the words & music for the music
publisher.
It’s early days in your career so more often than not you
will not be in a particularly strong position to negotiate the retention period
of the contracts and the titles included in those agreements. So there will be
a very strong possibility that retention will be for ‘life of copyright’ for
those titles on your debut and possibly second and third album. But this may be
open for discussion if you are fortunate to have ‘hit’ singles/albums with your
debut releases? An important point to keep flagged in your armoury.
