Selling my music to advertisement agency

[Joepie]

Hi guys, I've got the following situation:

There's a (small, local) advertisement agency that may be interested in using some of my music as background for internet commercials. However, I'm a complete noob as far as legal and financial issues are concerned. Here are some questions. Any info will be highly appreciated.

1. What's a reasonable price for selling my recordings? They're amateur quality, but will only be used on the net.

2. How do I go about selling copyright. I want to make sure that I can still put this music on an album someday, so I'm selling the copyright, but not the composer's rights.... right?? Please help.

3. What would one of these contracts look like?


Oh, before I forget, I live in Europe (the Netherlands) so I'm not sure US copyright law applies here. On the other hand, I heard that these laws are more or less the same all over the western world. Lemme know what you all think. Thanks in advance for the info.

[RickW]

You do NOT sell the copyright. If you do, you lose all rights to the song. There is no such thing as composer's right...that IS copyright (protecting the right of the composer). You may be thinking of publishing rights, which IS different from copyright. You may find better information if you go to your governments website and search for copyright information there. In the US, we have the Library of Congress (you may be able to find out about international copyright there). You may also want to check out BMI.com or ASCAP.com or SESAC.com for other info. If you want to use your material in the future for other projects, do not jump into this until you have researched it more.

I'm not saying that this advertising agency will steal your songs, just that you should be careful to make sure you're protected. It's easy to make a mistake if you're not well informed. Hope this didn't panic you, and I may not be 100% correct, but please don't make a mistake. Again - Do NOT sell your copyright (and make sure you have a legal registered one).

[MXStudios]

That is absoultely correct. You own the copyright. Period.

What you want to do is license the right for them to use the song. I'm not sure how it works outside the US, and especially when using it on the web. I suggest you just come up with a license fee and allow them to use the music in that capacity for as long as you agree.

Also, you are licensing them the recording. Not the right to re-record it on their own. They have no rights to the actual composition, only a license to use the recording in their commercials for the agreed upon timeframe, in the agreed upon market for the agreed upon time...

You might want to check out the websites of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC as suggested. They usually have some informative articles on the subject.

Greg

[Hugo H]

You should talk to the people at your local performing rights organization.
Go to http://www.bumastemra.nl/

[Joepie]

Thanks for the info, guys. I hadn't thought of the buma/stemra, thanks Hugo.