John,

I don't think you read that thread I linked to. I also don't think most artists/composers are seeing the big picture of what's going on with digital fingerprinting.

Tunesat, the very thing that started this thread, already 'red' flags music that has more than one title that relates to the same audio file. I will say that the non-exclusive, re-title type libraries are doing a "race to the bottom." Hoarding a lot of music and pricing it in the basement, below value. They have to in order to get any type of placement to look promising to unwitting artists.

I think my perspective is a little bit different being that I'm knee deep in what's going on - I own a library. I'm going to the meetings and conferences that deal with this stuff directly. When music supervisors talk about needing to license something effectively without the headache of another lawsuit - I'd heed that advice. When you have multiple sources for the same piece of music and something gets tagged in digital fingerprinting - it won't know which title it belongs to. Thus, some of those other libraries may wish to go and hunt down that use to make sure it they get paid. That's a headache that very few productions will want - especially when they thought they had licensed the music properly in the first place.

Understand where I'm going with this?

It's one of those areas where it's starting from the top down. As it should.

The best thing for new/up coming artists/composers today is to write quality music that people need and then value it. Oh and it helps to get a good head for the business of it.

So as more and more music is digitally fingerprinted, which is happening more and more now, the more likely it is to be flagged for multiple titles if it in multiple libraries. Therein lies your problem. If Tunesat finds a piece of your music that wasn't properly cue sheeted... The first company/person to register is the one likely to get credited with it. Now, if it wasn't the company that placed it - oops...

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Case in point for me. I've got a movie placement that a co-writer got through a re-titler. Unfortunately it could now get very sticky for me because it was done in a way where it could be a problem being that this same song is part of several deals within my library. Add to the fact that I have the admin publishing deal for the rest of the world - where now I have to have them deal with a re-title which could prove bothersome based on similar companies like Tunesat that cover other countries. I constantly have to tell co-writers to stop doing those types of deals without coming to me and every time I turn them down because they want them in my library as well. But I don't do re-titles and won't continue to represent music in my library that has re-titles elsewhere.

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All I'm doing is providing the word of the wise. Why even play with your career if it could mean getting blacklisted as a person attempting to game the system.

Jody Whitesides
A Funky Audio Lap Dance For Your Ears!
www.jodywhitesides.com