Can you outline the various stages and degrees of exclusivity/acquisition both with Score a Score and your clients?
Exclusivity is probably the thing we're asked about the most and for good reason! Understanding the way these terms place limitations on the way your music can be used is absolutely vital as you navigate the licensing world, and it can be a bit confusing. Let me try to break down a few of the terms you're likely to see within our briefs and agreements.
Non-exclusive: If your track is licensed non-exclusively, it can still be licensed by other entities - even to a brand's direct competitors. One thing to keep in mind is that if you see "Non-exclusive" in one of our briefs, that specifically refers to how the track can be licensed not how the track can be represented for licensing. So submitting to that brief would still be subject to SAS's exclusivity clause in the agreement and couldn't be sent to other music houses or publishers for representation.
Category Exclusivity: You'll usually see this listed with a particular category of brand such as "Quick Service Restaurants," or "Pharmaceuticals." This prevents the track from being licensed to a client's competition within a particular industry but allows it to be licensed outside of that industry. So if Taco Bell licenses a track with category exclusivity in quick service restaurants we could turn around the next day and license it to Linkedin but not to McDonalds. It's worth paying attention to which category is listed because it can be very broad (e.g. "Technology") or more narrow (e.g. "B2B Enterprise Technology") which makes a big difference in how the music can be used in the future - the narrower the better!
Full Exclusivity: This prevents the track from being licensed to anyone or anything for the duration of the term. The track is marked on our end and ceases to be pitched for any other opportunities until that term expires. This is generally the most expensive option as it obviously limits the future earning potential of a track significantly.
Work-for-hire or Buyout: All of the previous options were still within the realm of licensing but a work-for-hire or a buyout is a different type of agreement whereby a client acquires both the master and publishing copyrights and owns the track in perpetuity. This means not only can nobody else use the track, but the new owners can do anything they want with it. They can remix it, re-record it, use it on multiples spots in multiple campaigns, even license it or sell it! In almost all cases, if you wrote the track you would retain the writer's share of performance royalties, but beyond that the song is not yours (or ours) any longer, it is removed from our catalog and neither you nor we can generate any further revenue from it.
SAS Exclusivity and Acquisition: As I mentioned, the previous terms were all strictly related to our clients, not to the agreement between you and SAS. In all cases, any tracks submitted to any of our briefs are added to the SAS catalog and must be exclusively represented by SAS. Furthermore, while SAS does acquire the master and publishing copyrights to a track once it has reached the revenue threshold outlined in your contract, this acquisition is distinct from a client's buyout or work-for-hire as it is still subject to the terms of our agreement and you would continue to receive your share of all future licensing fees (as well as writer's share of performance royalties).
