JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Industry Message Forum Telepictures Music - Anyone worked with them before?

Hey folks,

I'm counting on the boundless resources of this fantastic community to help me out.

I'm trying to get into licensing some of my songs for TV...

I've had someone from Telepictures Music get in touch with me about one of my songs and was curious to know if anyone had worked with them before, and what your experience was like. Don't want to move forward without a lot more information.

Thanks!

I myself dont have any experience with them-but i did see that they are a unit of Time Warner........so they are not only legit but have extensive listings of places for music to go.......I myself am gonna submit to them....in fact-I am gonna submit the same three songs I have with another hollywood music licensing catalog-1000tracks.com..........they offer non exclusive contracts-you can cancel at any time......thanks for the tip about Telepictures-in way of return-check out 1000tracks.com.........might as well milk the same cow anyway we can-my opinion anyway......thanks Juliana!

Tom

hello again Juliana

heres a brief description of them posted on SONICBIDS-Sonic is certainly a well respected outfit....

http://www.sonicbids.com/Opportunity/OpportunityView.aspx?opportunity_id=13759

and here is the website for TELEPICTURES

http://telepicturesmusic.com/


Tom

Juliana,

I have not experieced this group before but I am highly suspicious with anyone "contacting you." There are groups out there (again I am not saying it on these people) that fish for people who do demos, are on forums, do contests,etc and track them down and give them the "we pitch songs to TV and film." They may do that, but the last one that contacted me was looking for about $1500 up front and so much a month. Not a chance.
I would find out who they are, and ask for a client list, so you can get referrals. Then you contact them and see what kind of experiences they have had. Trust but verify.
It is very hard not to make money on peoples hopes and dreams. The reality is that all companies that deal with music, be it New York, LA and Nashville, are all deluged with music, contacts and people banging on their doors. They rarely have to go looking for songs.
I don't know of this company but that doesn't mean anything. I don't operate on the West coast but write and work with people who do. One of the reasons they come to me is because they are sick of the West Coast.
Just take it slow and do your homework. If they won't provide referrals, you don't want to deal with them. And be careful of just getting one or two opinions they want to supply you. Real easy to get your buddies to say "Oh yeah, they are the greatest company." Find out their track record and how recent.
And sometimes I don't think it is people trying to rip other people off. It is more "the road to hell is paved with good intenetions." In my world, EVERYBODY can tell you JUST what YOU need to do to get a deal." Telling you about it and doing it are two very different things.
Good luck.

MAB

Marc/Juliana

i was recruited by the A&R guy from 1000tracks.com who has heard my stuff on my MYSPACE PAGE...I signed contracts for three songs and two others were rejected by them.......course I didnt pay any money......its good policy to beware of folks not mentioned on the companys website-but he was-and is........i dont know how Juliana was contacted obviously-you didnt tell us.....just offering my experience with another film/tv catalog................best of luck Juliana.of course DO NOT pay any money......thats a sure sign of a scam..

Tom

Tom,

Usually there are some kind of referall. And single song contracts are actually the norm. I like anything in short smaller bites, makes more sense. And there is some uses for money. doing demos, making trips, etc. Even song pluggers for someone who has the right catalogue might be a good investment.
I would just always check my steps and go carefully.

MAB

"Back in the days" when I was taking appointments with new writers I would tell them that, in most cases, a publisher doesn't give a "new" writer a deal thinking he'll get the songs that writer brings in cut. He's thinking of getting the songs that writer WILL write cut.

Looks like "Telepictures" is a music library. Their SonicBids profile says:

$500 per track is probably the up-front purchase (buy out) payment, and beyond that there may be no further payments other than tbe your writer's performance royalties. Besides this, they'll probably require exclusive use of your tracks.

On their "About" page they say:

I looked up the Domain Name Administrator for their website and it's:
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
4000 Warner Blvd.
Burbank CA 91522 US

Micahel

Thanks so much you guys! I'm still a "beginner" with the business side of things and I really appreciate your experience.

same here,
i´m trying to look for licensing opportunities for film and television but i'm a bit clueless too, i was approached by a few companies but then reading they're contract it was just not right, no sense giving away your rights to license a song, then you're not receiving your rights at all... my music on offer is released in my album so i'm not willing to "give away" songs but to license them for a broadcast use.
no experience regading this one, if it's warner bros owned could be good

Here's one that's legit PRISCILLA: http://www.crucialmusic.com/

It was a TAXI forwarding company. You can submit music online. They're very particular in what they accept - which is a good thing.

I always feel better about a company that rejects my music. Hmm... I wonder what I meant by that?

Anyway, rejection helps to keep one's head out-of-the-clouds.

Good luck, John

Yeah, the opportunity was definitely legit -- I submitted through SonicBids and tried to check them out as much as possible (thanks to suggestions on JPFolks!)

I guess what I'm worried about it how "worth it" it will be if they are retaining rights to the song?

It would be great if it gets exposure on a Time-Warner show (like Gossip Girls, etc.) but if they just sit on it it's not really worth it for me. Unfortunately I guess there's no way to know that ahead of time.

Being on Sonic Bids means NOTHING. Any scam artist can run listings with them and Sonic Bids does NOT check them out. NEVER trust that as an indicator of what is legit or not. Sonic Bids has stated it is up to their user to check companies out for legitimacy, not them. I disagree strongly with that stance, but it is what it is.

Be VERY cautious and skeptical. Legit operations will NEVER be offended by people asking questions, asking for references and checking them out. If they balk at all, move on.

Brian

I would not automatically assume that someone who has done business with TAXI is legit. Sure, most are. But that connection alone is NOT enough to trust. I know one company that another member here had problems with that was doing business with TAXI. It got very nasty when we questioned them and they tried to trash our reputation to the owner of TAXI, not being aware that we are good friends. In the end, the truth came out and our concerns were 100% valid and the owner of that company apologized and ate crow. But for me that wasn't enough. And I think TAXI, after that experience, stopped doing business with them as well. So unless the owner of TAXI says he personally vouches for a company, don't assume the TAXI connection proves someone is above board. It doesn't. At least in the case of TAXI, if they learn someone isn't doing the right thing, they stop doing business with them. That's not true of others.

Brian

Good points in Brian's last two posts.

It's so easy for a less than honorable company to portray a facade of legitimacy today. Anyone can have an impressive looking website.

Yeah, if a company is legit, they won't be offended by our hard questions.

Always good to have a reversal clause in your contract.

John

Hi Tom,

Are you aware that 1000Tracks re-titles your work and registers the new title with BMI, ASCAP, etc., listing themselves as the publisher? Heres' an article describing the process:
http://songwritergotchas.blogspot.com/2006/10/non-exclusive-re-titling-deals-boon-to.html

Personally, I would be very reluctant to agree to such a deal...although I did, with Pump Audio (lesson learned).

Hey Steve,

A non-exclusive agreement seems to be the norm with film music libraries today.

Actually, I think it benefits the composer by not having the composer's music trapped in dead-ended libraries. This allows the composer to shop his music to other libraries that may have better results with his music.

As far as changing titles; it's necessary for the appropriate distribution of royalties.

I like the idea of having several publishers working my music.

Best, John

Hi John,

I'm still on the fence when it comes to these re-titling deals. I understand why they need to do it, so that they can register with the PRO, listing themselves as the publisher. What if one of those placements strikes gold (main title music for a network show for example). Wouldn't you feel that you had given away a huge piece of your royalty pie? At the same time, I know that there's strength in numbers...so having the same tracks in several libraries does make good `cents'.