JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Industry Message Forum Cue Sheet Neglect...

"When music supervisors talk about needing to license something effectively without the headache of another lawsuit - I'd heed that advice"

Yes, and for every supervisor you talk to there are probably dozens (maybe hundreds) that don't want the non-exclusives to go away. Everyone has their own agenda don't they?

"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."

I wouldn't think that would be a music supervisor's problem. That would be the PRO's responsibility to distribute the royalties appropriately. I would think their biggest worry about lawsuits would come from an exclusive library using music dishonestly tagged exclusive (regardless of the exclusive library's knowledge). Non-exclusive/ retitling libraries are upfront about their business model.

"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."

Sounds like a dishonest composer or a library's negligence . How did the song get in your library if it was with a retitle publisher? The World is full of dishonest people. Eliminating the non-exclusive publishers won't change that. Again, this situation could only happen through an exclusive library.

"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"

Don't give me that blacklisted crapola Jody. Sounds like a threat similar to McCarthyism and the Hollywood Blacklist.

The marketplace thrives on competition. Your agenda initiates from a group of people that want to form a monopoly in the music library business.

I have music in both non-exclusive and exclusive libraries. Anything I sign to an exclusive library will remain solely in that library - exclusively. And that's what it boils down to - honesty (both on the part of the composer and library).

John