Composing : IP agreements - licencing a musician to do score by Conchita Franco Serri

Have you tried asking Samuel Estes or Timothy Andrew Edwards?

What would you like to know Conchita? There are a lot of agreements out there, and in varying flavors. It is pretty standard that the agreement states the music is 100% written by the Composer, and as such the Composer owns the music, and therefor is liable for any copyright infringement if the composer "copies" someone else's work. It's also standard that the filmmaker can use the music in anyway they deem necessary for both the film, and promotion of the film. In some cases the Film Company can own publishing. When pieces are written for a film, and divided into "cues" there is a cue sheet that gets generated, and on that cue sheet you assign a writer's share of the music and a publishing share of the music. Its a red flag (for us) if a composer gets and agreement that states that the film company owns all writers share of the music. Hope that answers the question... Sorry I am just seeing this now.

Everything Sam said is accurate (of course - hey Sam)! From my experience, film/production companies, that are established with widespread distribution may request the publishing share, but indie filmmakers generally do not UNLESS they want to buy out those rights for an additional amount of money and that amount is usually significant. The writers share and publishers share represents 50% each so for every dollar that comes in, the writer gets $0.50 and the publisher gets the other $0.50 (a simple example). This generally pertains to royalties from television broadcasts. Theaters in the States do not pay music royalties (although some other countries do). Also, I add in a clause about "HOLDBACKS" which basically states the filmmaker gets to use the music exclusively for a set amount of time before the composer can issue a license to anyone else. This eliminates two films, etc appearing in the marketplace at the same time with similar or identical score elements. For example a holdback might be 2 years after a distribution deal is signed or 3 years after the agreement is signed, whichever comes first. The license also allows the use of the music in that particular film only. If you make a different film or a sequel, you cannot re-use the music licensed for the original film it was licensed for unless of course, you negotiate and pay extra for that right. I hope this helps! What Sam and i are telling you seems to be what is "usual and customary" these days and is healthy for everyone as your score will likely be a little less money than if you had complete ownership and the exclusive use of it in perpetuity, which honestly is pretty much a thing of the past.