I have someone that is interested in recording some of my songs but is not looking at CD sales, just a few to sell at gigs. He is looking at download sales mostly, Itunes,Youtube, etc. How does one license songs in a case like that? No way of knowing how many he will sell.

Well,
A problem to say the least. You could charge him a one time fee upfront and issue license or licenses and let it go at that. The licenses would have a limit to number of copies he would be allowed to make. If he makes it big and wants to do more copies he would have to pay for the new licenses.

I'm not concerned with making money from music. I just want as many of my songs on youtube as possible to prove I'm a real songwriter.

He asked me how it could be done and I was not sure, other than I license him and trust him to pay me for any downloads he received.

Honestly it's not worth the hassle unless it's someone who has a lot of fans and is a known name. I'd just let him have them for free.

You don't have any way to monitor his sales of CDs or downloads. I would simply agree on a rate per download and sell him the rights to a number like 50 up front and trust him to buy another 50 when the first are used up. Chances are he'll never get to 50 unless he's a somebody. Probably use the regular rate of about 9 cents per download.

Colin, that is what I am thinking about doing. It comes down to trust. He is a good singer so one never knows what one might do in sales once he gets heard.

Hey Everett,

When the song is recorded, it should have a ISRC

Link .... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Recording_Code

For the artist to receive broadcast royalties ( in all countries except for the US ) the ISRC will be quoted and the writer and publisher will be paid through their PRO.

As for a few CD's ? I wouldn't worry about it. It's good promotion and good will for your songs, and for the performer. And besides, the paperwork would generate a negative income stream if you took the hassle component into perspective.

cheers, Geoff

The PROs receive money for downloads from iTunes, Amazon etc. as well and distribute them accordingly. That's somewhere between 7% and 10% of the net price. This sum is shared among composers, lyricists, and publishers.

I don't know the details, though, since I excluded the internet from my PRO contract (too little money in it, too much confusion with regard to licensing private and promo web pages, Youtube uploads etc.)

The statutory rate for a compulsory license is what, about 9 cents per sale?

Unless he's planning on selling a ton of CDs, downloads,
it's not going to amount to much.

I have a couple of artists released few of my songs, but with
sales only the 5K range, it's only change, so I don't really think about it or care, I'm just happy someone is performing my songs on stages, and getting some airplay once in a while, but that's about it.

Looking at a media studies path a bit before the invention of you tube, the most secure place professionals in the business have liked have been in music distribution sites. Not just sites with free uploads. Free upload sites might be good in a site to gather an opinion on a track, but not an idea to go with and make money off of.

You tube should not even be used for sales, especially with someone out to spread their wings in it.

It seems to be having secure channels and going through a process.
The internet doesn't seem to have one sure process for artists like it had before it.

I can't speak for major publishing companies since I have not gone their with it. But from what I have read in the posts, there is a lot of disappointment with that.

If you already have master recording, you could sell your music without the need of anyone. You just need to find a distribution company, and there is many that you can find by googling "Digital music distribution", some distributors require a payment fee of 20$/Year to upload your songs in iTunes, Spotify, Amazon.. and hundreds of other digital stores. The only requirement is to have a quality recording and a quality Album image (3000x3000 pixels). You will keep 100% of your royalties minus the stores fees..
Hope this can help...

Let them go with it after all you can use his or her recordings of your songs, and tell them so
its not even worth mentioning a fee He wont sell more that 100 per year if that

You can then use the new demos for pitching to bigger fish