What’s with the Uploader’s fee?
OK, I thought I’d hammer this out from the get go, so hear me out. I am both a musician/composer and music publisher owning a boutique MCPS production library. I can see both sides of the coin which is why I, with a little help from my friends, have created SyncCloud.
The short answer to the question is, we’re a service providing the opportunity for music creators to keep tracks in a place where professionals are looking for music to license for their media. We provide the platform, the legal boundaries (our licences) and exploit the catalogue on your behalf. We don’t share in your copyrights, we don’t receive any backend royalties and we don’t ask you to commit to a set term. The £9.99 annual fee is a contribution towards the above, and space on our cloud. For a more in depth look at why I came up with this concept, read on…
With my MCPS production library, I issue what I consider a fair publishing deal. A minimum term of 36 months where we are the rights holders, and a 50%/50% split on income – including mechanicals and of course, no one should ever pay any sort of fee to sign a publishing deal. Now compare this to some companies out there that sign tracks where the term is forever (with no buyout) and they keep 100% of the mechanicals and the max amount of publishing royalties (50%). I myself have signed a pub deal just like this, and it’s because of this I formed my own label.
So, what does a production library do after signing an agreement with them? Well, typically your tracks would be processed and registered with their PRO (performing rights organisation), the tracks would be prepared to distribute (exploited) with a mountain of metadata work included and then pitched to those looking for music. In such a saturated market, every sync is quite special!
Now, the other thing to understand is the difference between an MCPS production library and SyncCloud. Well, with the MCPS library, the licence is set up for production music – music specifically created for use in production and not commercial music (music that is released by commercial bands and artists). All the music in the library is covered by a blanket licence provided by PRS for Music. Those paying into the blanket licence can freely use music from MCPS libraries, all they have to do is report the usage to PRS and a royalty is paid. Thosenot covered by a blanket licence have a set sync fee to pay, one which is set out by PRS. This setup works really well for companies buying into the blanket licence, but with SyncCloud, we’re independent and can set out and negotiate our own licence, like the three you can see on our website.
So the question for me was, what if I can create a space for both commercial music and production music where they have pure freedom to move tracks in and out as they please with no set term, non-exclusively? What if by doing so they didn’t need to share their rights with us, they just gave us the right to licence their music on their behalf, keeping 100% of any backend royalties?
Well, this is pretty much what we have created! Independent bands, artists, and musicians (or those who have non-exclusive deals already) can put their work up for sync without signing a publishing deal in the traditional way. Think about it, imagine you are a band, you’ve written, recorded, produced, arranged tours and your own radio PR which is all a costly process, and you then sign a publishing deal or administration deal. This means the company then shares all royalties involving the usage or performance of your work, such as gig royalties, airplayand syncs that you may have generated yourself! Not with SyncCloud! By all means, a good deal is a good deal and the right publisher (and a good publisher) can really make a difference, but just be careful what you sign and until then, keep your options open… and your tracks in SyncCloud so you have complete freedom and control.
So keeping the above in mind, a publisher would share in your rights, share in your royalties and have them for a set period of time. SyncCloud won’t get any of this. This is why there is an Uploader’s annual subscription to help cover costs. It basically buys you space on our cloud. We definitely think it’s worth the price of a Margherita pizza once a year and in exchange you get to put your work up for sync using our set legal boundaries knowing that you’re in control and holding on to what’s yours at all times.