|
we want to give you information about publishing, recording, copyrights, distribution and so much more! We hope and pray that this information will be of service to you. Gibson Hill Music is a publishing house dedicated to music ministry. We are a small company with a big vision, to help you as an artist to become as effective as you can be, by opening doors between writers and singers of Christian music.
Completing a song is an accomplishment in itself. But if you want that song to be enjoyed by other people, if you want it to be recorded and become an effective tool of ministry, your work is just beginning! Somewhere along the line, in the process of getting your songs to the public, your creations have to be published.
When you finish writing a song it becomes a product-a property that you own. People in the music industry refer to that property as a "copyright." (Copyright law automatically protects Songs. Still it is important to understand when and how they are protected and, the difference between copyright notification and registration.) All of the copyrights you own comprise your "catalog." You control the publishing rights to all the songs in your catalog, until you choose to sign a contract giving the publishing to someone else.
When you sign a publishing contract, you are assigning your copyright to the publisher. Ethical publishers don't ask you to "sell" your songs outright, rather you license the rights to the song to the publisher for a specified period of time. The publisher "administers" the copyright during that period. You'll sometimes hear of a publisher acquiring whole catalogs, which he then tries to exploit. He tries to get the songs recorded, printed and used in various ways, and guards them against infringement. Even though a song is your creation, the publisher controls the copyright once you have given him your publishing. He does a lot of legwork and paperwork for you, and uses his contacts and business savvy to your (and his) advantage. He may choose to help you re-demo your song to make it sound more professional. He may even offer you a small cash advance at the time the publishing contract is signed. Because the publisher invests time and money in the song (because he believes in the potential of the song), you split with him the royalties the song earns, usually 50/50.
Some songwriters (if not most these days) choose to publish their own songs and "pitch them" directly to recording artists or their producers or their managers. However, publishing is a complicated and sophisticated process. Many songwriters feel that the business negotiations and follow up work of publishing take too much time away from the songwriting and demo projects, and they prefer to let an experienced publisher represent their songs for them.
Publishers can be excellent contacts for songwriters. Publishers build a reputation within the music industry. Some publishers specialize in certain types of music, while others look for crossover potential in songs, so they can peak the interest many different kinds of artists in the same song(s).
Gibson Hill Music (2)
By John C. Barker (Integrated copyright group)
You may want to avoid the headaches of an independent session by jobbing it out to a service. Fortunately, you can avoid some of the cost as well. Demo service fees start at around $50.00 per song for a simple guitar/vocal, or two guitars vocal, and you can add on whatever you want from there. Prices vary somewhat, depending on what instruments the owner of the service plays (Female vocals are usually extra, unless the owner of the service happens to be of that gender) And the different services have different "packages" available, (for example: two acoustic guitars, two electric guitars, bass, drum machine, and male vocals, with studio time included) They also have an "a la carte" fee schedule for additional instruments, vocals and studio time. Record Promotion (By: Billy Arr)
The record promoter is one of the most important and least recognized people in the industry. The promoter who can innovate and develop new ideas that makes his records a success can just about write his own ticket in the business. He has to deal with even facet of the music industry, i.e. radio, television, newspapers, and periodicals. Without a good promoter a record does not have a chance of getting off the ground.
If you have done a custom session and intend on releasing your record (CD) yourself, a professional promoter is definitely needed. Once again, play it safe. Check the history of those you think about doing business with. A good promoter is invaluable. A bad one is a disaster.
Contracts: (Songwriter's market)
You may encounter several types of contracts as you deal with the business end of songwriting, beginning with a legal agreement between you and a co-writer as to what percentage of the writer's royalties each of you will receive, what you will do if a third party (e.g. a recording artist) wishes to change and receive credit as a co-writer, and other things. Usually as long as the issues at stake are simple, and co-writer's respect each other and discuss their business philosophy in advance of writing a song, they can reach an agreement verbally. A written contract is not necessary. (A written contract is usually necessary only when one writer wishes to control the rights to the song: or one of the writers wants to remove his contribution if no use is made of the song within a certain period of time, e.g., take his lyrics and have them set to different music or vice versa) In other situations-if a publisher, producer or Record Company wants to do business with you-you need a contract! You should always have any contract that is offered to you reviewed by a knowledgeable entertainment attorney.
Single Song Contracts: Probably the most common type of contract you will encounter at first will be the single song contract. A music publisher offers this type of contract when he wants to sign one (or more) of v our songs, but he doesn't want to hire you as a staff writer. This type of agreement rarely includes more than two or three songs. You assign your rights to a particular song to the publisher for an agreed-upon number of years (usually the life of the copyright) the songwriter's guild of America (S.G.A.) has drawn up a popular songwriter's contract, which it believes to be the best minimum songwriter contract available. The Guild will send two copies of the contract to any interested songwriter upon request at no charge: additional copies cost $.50 each. S.G.A. will also review any contract offered to its members free of charge, to check it for fairness and completeness. Check them out on-line at www.songwritersguild.com
Every contract should contain this basic information: The publisher's name, the writer's name(s), the song title, the date, and purpose of the agreement. The songwriter also declares that the song is an original work and that he is the creator of the work. The contract must specify the royalties the songwriter will earn from various uses of the song. These include performance royalties, mechanical rights, print (Sheet music), foreign sub-publishing, and an agreement as to what will paid for any uses not specifically set forth in the wording of the contract. The songwriter should receive no less than 50% of the income his/her song generates. That means, whatever the song earns in royalties, the publisher and the songwriter should split 50-50. The songwriter's half is called "the writer's share" and the publisher's half is called "the publisher's share." If there is more than one songwriter, the songwriter's split "the writer's share." Sometimes songwriter's will negotiate for a percentage of "the publisher's share": that is called a co-publishing agreement. This is usually feasible only if a songwriter already has some hits and is unlikely for beginning songwriters. Other issues a contract should address include whether or not an advance will be paid to the artist at the time the contract is executed.
Publication:
What is publication? Publication generally means the sale, the placing on sale, or public distribution of copies. Performance of the work or the making of phonorecords does not constitute publication. While the sale or public distribution of phonorecords may affect common law rights in the musical composition on the phonorecord. It is not regarded as the kind of "publication" that will secure a statutory copyright in the musical composition (circular 56 concerning copyrights in sound recordings will explain more) Limited distribution of so-called "professional" copies to publishers, bandleaders, etc
ordinarily would not constitute publication either. However, the dividing line between a distribution and actual publication may sometimes be difficult to determine. The author may wish to affix a notice of copyright to copies that are circulated beyond his control, to show that his interests in the work are preserved.
Once I locate the owner of the song (The person who holds the copyright if the song is published the writer cannot give you the express permission). What is the best way to request permission to use the song? Put your request in writing and fax or e-mail your request to the publisher. Your request should give all pertinent information regarding your proposed use of that publisher's song: i.e. song title, publisher, type of use (Recording, print, video, etc) title of project, the artist or group name, a project catalog number, if any, the projected release, or manufacture of project, the number of units you plan to have manufactured, your name and mailing address and phone number and other information you might think of that might be helpful to the publisher.
You may also attempt to call the publisher to request a license. However, most publishers will ask you to send a request in writing and send them by mail or fax. In fact, when you call some of the larger publishers, you may only get a recording directing you on how and where to mail your request. Because most companies will take up to four weeks to answer a request, so you must send your requests far enough in advance of your recording date. However, if an emergency situation does arise, you can attempt to contact the publisher by phone and request "verbal permission" to go ahead and record while the license is being executed.
What is a license agreement? A "License" is an agreement between you (The user of the song) and the owner of the song (The writer, or more often the publishing company that the writer has assigned, sold or transferred his rights (publishing rights and he who holds the publishing rights holds the copyright) in the song to). Which allows you to use the song on your project by following the stipulations contained in the agreement. In other words, this document explains how you are allowed to use the song, how much to pay, when and how to pay the royalties, and other important conditions you must follow.
You may request a license to be sent to you by the owner (Again usually a company) of the song. You normally are asked to sign and return a copy of the license to the owner, and to keep one for your files. If there is more than one owner for a song, you must secure a license from each owner for his or her portion of the song. Read circular R51 repeal of notice of use requirement. www.loc.gov/copyright is where you can download all the materials covered by Songwriter's Workshop.
Exploring Copyrights: There is a difference between registration and copyright notification. Under the present copyright law, which became effective, January 1st 1978, a work is protected by a copyright automatically when it is created; a work is created when it "fixed" in a copy (CD, cassette, Phone-record) for the first time. Neither registration in the copyright office nor publication is required to secure a copyright under the present law. The advantages to copyright registration, certain advantages to registration, including the establishment of a public record of the copyright claim copyright registration must generally be made before an infringement suit can be brought. Timely registration may also provide a broader range of remedies in an infringement suit. This is some info related to copyright of songs, but in sort of the "opposite direction" -- how to LEGALLY make, release and sell your own recordings of copyrighted songs written by others, e.g., "cover" songs. To do so, you need to obtain a license for each "cover" song you plan to record. This can now be done online, through www.songfile.com.
I've learned that the vast majority of registered songs fall under what is called the "statutory royalty rate." Currently, the rate is 8 cents per copy for songs under 5 minutes, for a production release of 500 (minimum) up to 2,500 (maximum) total copies, to be released in USA only.
So, let's say you want to record YOUR rendition of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" on your own CD. You go to Songfile.com and find the song falls under the statutory royalty rate. * You plan to release no more than the minimum 500 copies of your CD containing this song. So, your license will cost you 500 x 8 cents, or $40. Application fee for the license is $2, so your total cost will be $42. That's only for this ONE song, of course. And it has to be YOU (your band, your friends, musicians you hire, etc.) performing the song ... you can't take Lee singing it from HIS album and record it on yours under this license. John C. Barker
More frequently asked questions and misunderstandings related to gaining permission to use copyrighted songs. "Can I change the words or the music slightly?"
No, not without explicit written permission, and most publishers will not grant you this permission. You may arrange the song in a proper key, Vocal style and instrumentation etc. for your specific use of the song, but you may not alter the words or basic musical structure without permission. "Well what if a publisher denies me permission to use one of his songs?" Then you must not use that song. If you do, you will be infringing on a copyright, which is breaking the law. Obviously, you need to find this out before you record the song. What If a producer, or a studio representative does commit to securing all licenses for your project? "Fine, then it's easier on you. However, you must remember that you, being the owner of the recording project you are the one ultimately liable for the licenses being executed,
He is not liable, you are. If anybody is taken to court, it would not be him it will be you. If you do have someone else secure the licenses for you. Make sure it gets done correctly. Better yet, do it yourself! "Do I have to get permission to have a song played on the radio?" As long as you have a valid license from the publisher to use the song for your original recording, then you don't have to get an additional license for the broadcast of that recording on radio or television. That will covered under an agreement between the station and A.S.C.A.P., B.M.I, or S.E.S.A.C.
Performing Rights:
You can't affiliate with one of these societies until your song is recorded on a record (CD) or for a motion picture (Or performed on radio or television). A published songwriter must belong to the same organization to which the publisher belongs. However, many publishers have affiliate companies belonging to different performing rights organizations. This allows the publisher to deal with writers of each of the various performing rights societies.
Each performance rights organization has its own unique method of determining how many times your song is performed during a given period. Their primary difference is how they make that determination. A. S. C. A. P monitors individual radio and television stations as well as concerts and clubs where music is performed. B.M.I uses logs sent them from radio and T.V stations. S.E.S.A.C. uses the charts of the trade magazines to determine the popularity of individual songs.
The songwriter receives quarterly a statement of performances and a royalty check from his chosen performance rights society. The amount earned depends on how many times the organization determined the song was performed and the kind of performance (e.g. a prime time network T.V. show vs. a local T.V. newscast).
A.S.C.A.P. (You can join as a writer, a publisher, or both if you meet the eligibility requirements. There is no cost to join ASCAP and there are no annual dues.
To become a writer member, you must be the writer or co-writer of a musical composition or a song that has been:
· Commercially recorded (CD, record, tape, etc.)
· Or, performed publicly in any venue licensable by ASCAP (club, live concert, symphonic concert or recital venue, college or university, etc.);
· Or, performed in any audio visual or electronic medium (film, television, radio, Internet, cable, pay-per-view, etc.);
· Or, published and available for sale or rental.)
Performance rights organizations are highly professional and reputable friends of the songwriter. To look into the specific policies, procedures, benefits, and requirements of each before joining, use the addresses given in our Organizations section and write or visit them.
All types of royalties except performance royalties are paid directly to the publisher who then splits them with the songwriter according to the publishing contract. Mechanical royalties are paid for every copy of your song (Record, tape, or CD) that is sold and not returned. The statutory rate is the maximum payment allowable by law, and it is currently 5 and one-quarter cents per song per record sold. The rate is scheduled to increase every two years based on the consumer price index.
The record company pays the mechanical royalty to the publisher, and the publisher sends the writer his share. Record companies are notorious for not paying on time and not accounting accurately and thoroughly. Many publishers go through the Harry Fox agency to collect mechanical royalties for them The Harry Fox agency will also collect synchronization fees in some cases.
Synchronization fees are generally paid for uses of music in film, videos, and television commercials. If a song or instrumental work is written expressly for a movie or TV show, the writing sometimes done as "work-for-hire" where the composer receives an initial flat fee and the production company owns all rights to the work. In that case, a synchronization license is unnecessary but the writer may sign a single-song publishing agreement with the production company and remain entitled to the songwriter's of future royalties.
The songwriter shares 50-50 in any royalties the publisher receives from the foreign sub-publisher who collects the publishing. (For all the various uses there might be for that song within his territory).
The publisher also pays you a share of the profit from the sale of sheet music, orchestrations, and choral arrangements and folio sales. You earn a flat rate for each sheet of piano music sold and 10-15% of the retail price of orchestrations, choral arrangements and folios.
A songwriter will sometimes receive a cash advance at the time a publishing contract is signed; an artist may receive an advance when he signs a record deal. These advances are recoupable... If a publisher gives you a SI 00 advance, and then your song is recorded and released, you won't receive any additional money for the song until the publisher recoups certain expenses, including the $100 back to the publisher. That gamble is just a part of music publishing (and you can bet that if a publisher is willing to give you an advance, he's going to work hard to get your song recorded so that he can recoup his investment). Usually, if a songwriter already has a well-produced, high quality demo and the publisher doesn't have to re-demo the song, the publisher will be more likely to give the songwriter an advance.
Staff writers who receive a draw against future royalties are in a similar position. Their publisher pays them a sum of money per week or month. But if their songs don't make money, the songwriter does not have to pay the publisher back. But if the songs do earn money, the publisher recovers the advance from royalties that would otherwise be paid the songwriter. (Remember, the songwriter receives performance royalties directly from the performing rights society. The income from which the publisher can deduct is comprised of the other types of royalties: mechanical, print, and synchronization) Therefore any contract should spell out what payment you will receive, including advances and future royalties.
What do performing rights societies do? (Billy Arr) The law requires that no one may perform a copyrighted musical work publicly for profit without permission from the copyright owner. Obviously no writer could ever know every time a song is played, but the performing rights organizations handle this problem and collect money for the performed songs in behalf of the writer. This all started in 1914 when a group of writers and composers led by the famous Victor Herbert organized to protect their rights which were being flagrantly violated at the time. These societies have reciprocal agreements with many foreign countries. You will receive money for airplay from places you wouldn't have dreamed as playing your song, like Romania or Hungary. Please check back with us for more.
When I record a song by another artist, what if I can't find out who the publisher is? You make every effort possible to locate the publisher in order to get permission to use that song on your recording. If you were unable to do this, then my first recommendation, and the safest one, would be not to use that song on your recording. If you do include that song on your project, then document the efforts you made to locate the publisher of the song. Here is one way I have used in the past, put it in writing, on the CD "author unknown used with intent to pay a royalty" A further safe step would be to set aside the royalties that would be due for that song in a separate place or account. Then, if the publisher of that song notifies you of the unlicensed use. You are able to show him your efforts made to locate him, and your intentions of making the correct royalty payments to him, which you held in a separate account. You will then need to execute a license with the publisher, and pay the accumulated royalties. However I must warn you. Any unlicensed use of a copyrighted song is considered a copyright infringement, and is punishable by law!
|
|
|
Search Group Message Board
|
|
|
Group Chat
|
|
You must be a group member to use chat...
|
|
|
|
|
