Hi all,

One of our marketing guys brought this thread to my attention - so I thought I'd pitch in our side of the story.

First off, Steve is very right when he says carefully consider agreeing to part with any copyright before you do it. You should - and were Myspace (for example) asking for your publishing just to list tracks on the site you'd be a fool to do it.

That being said - we are not Myspace. We are designed to be a professional music library and marketplace where you can pitch your music to clients and have clients access a library that we publish and promote. There are plenty of sites available for setting up an online resume.

Also - although our contract says that we publish everything uploaded to the site - in practice we only publish things that end up either winning a project or completing a project unsuccessfully. There is no point us registering something that can be deleted at any time by the user from the site. Once a track completes a project it enters into our music library (this is all in our "how it works" information on the site)

All of this information is available freely before you upload and even if you do upload and change your mind - you can completely delete your track from the HUMTOO system at any time before it is on a project that you completely pitch for.

We're not out to "steal" anyone royalties. This standard publishers share of performance royalties is HUMTOO's only publishing commission on the site. Other libraries take a hit of your sync and reproduction royalties too - we give 100% of any sync or reproduction royalties or project fees earned to the members. We also don't charge listing fees for projects or any sort of membership fees.

In addition we're always adding new features for our members - going online very shortly is our remix and collaboration section - all of the power of the site for users to use to have their tracks remixed and to collaborate with other members - of course we don't touch any publishing here either. There's a lot more to come - a great deal of it from requests from our members for things they'd like to see to help them get more projects.

Steve, I fail to see how you can classify this as the worst deal you've seen. As far as library music contracts go - ours is very fair and we consulted heavily to ensure this. The key thing again to remember is that we are a music library - not Myspace. Still, if you want to put up your songs just to have an online resume you can do so on our site as long as you don't pitch them for projects or enter them into the library (again explained in "how it works").

I'm sorry, but I fail to see how this is unfair. We give every piece of information you will need to make an informed decision about our services and multiple points at which you can opt out and we offer better a deal than most other library music companies. No one is forcing or tricking anyone into using our services.

We're very open with our information and have consulted widely with industry professionals and PROs to ensure the fairness of our system.

Brian - the copyright is not based on an upload - but the contract that you must agree to before uploading. This is perfectly legal. We've all agreed to many contracts online for use of services. Our contract is freely available as is all information before agreeing to anything. Also - just agreeing to the contract does not lock you into anything until one of your tracks is pitched for a project on the site when that project closes and we enter it into out music library and register it.

As said - every bit of this information is explained thoroughly in our "how it works" section where all our contracts are available for perusal. Our contact details are there and we will answer any question put to us.

I know it can get very scary out there with all the legalese and contracts and being careful where to put you music, etc - but we're on your side (cliché I know) but we are - we're a business but we're not out to hurt anyone - we try to explain everything on the site in as plain English as possible. We do need to make money - but rather than sting you for membership fees or upload fees, etc we chose a system where we make money when you do - like every other library music company - we profit when you profit.

I don't know if I'll check back here or not - but all our contact details and information are on the site. Feel free to drop in and poke around and ask questions. Use the service if you choose to - we hope yo see you there.

Cheers,

Jason.
(HUMTOO)