JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum Question for experienced writers

A perspective on reversion clauses:

We have a member who is one of the finest songwriters I have ever come across in any genre at any level. This writer had a publishing deal with a guy who had a few small successes and who showed great interest in her work. At the start, he did pitch her material quite a bit and got some interest from some major artists, but none of the songs ever got cut. This went on for several years and no cuts. Then this particular publisher got involved with an internet start up music company (one that has since become famous, though not at all successful to date). When he did that, he was riding high, making huge amounts of money and guess what he stopped doing? He stopped pitching the catelog, including the songs written by this writer. A year went by.. then two.. then three.. then four.. nothing. Not even a minimal effort of any kind to pitch any songs. But, he owned the publishing so no one else was interested in these great songs because none of the publishing was available, and because of this persons position with this internet music company, there were a whole new level of issues/conflicts that made it even less desirable to deal with songs he published. While this was playing out, the writer in question kept writing amazing songs.. but all of them kept going to this publisher who would do a single thing with them. So the writer tried to pitch songs but no one was biting because of the publishing not being available as a bargaining tool. We actually found someone who loved one of the songs, and offered to buy 1/2 of the publishing of just 1 of the songs for thousands of dollars. Now remember, this was a song that this guy had never pitched, even when he WAS pitching.. and now he wasn't pitching anything period. This interested party was aggressively interest in pursuing this song and later proved their passion was valid because the other song they chose ended up charting via a completely unknown artist that this party represented. These guys, through brute force of will, got the song on the charts (the real Billboard charts, not the bogus ones used by many Nashville scam artists). All the while they continued to show interest in this other writers songs, but they were stuck with a publisher who simply refused to pitch or even work with another publisher or entity to cut the songs. So the songs have all died a slow and neglected death.

Fortunately, this writer was finally able to get out of the publishing deal and has since written more great songs and as I write this has a new publishing deal where the publisher is doing their job and getting the songs placed. 1 song is already placed with a well known artist for release and several more are in the process of breaking through with even larger artists. But those old songs? They are still attempting to get the publishing back but whenever a publisher shows interest, either this publisher (who's internet company crashed and burned famously.. but recently has started to try and make a comeback.. he was cleaning pools last time I checked to make a living) still hasn't played ball and released the tracks, even with with offers of compensation to buy him out.

A reversion clause, of even 5 years, would have solved all of this. But now, those songs are stuck with an unmotivated guy who only now MIGHT release them simply because he's desperate for cash. Of course he could release them to a scam artist for cash as well and the problem would only get worse.

Why let this type of thing happen? You never know what someone is going to be doing in 2-3 years. If a legit publisher is making a legit effort to get the songs cut, there will be plenty of evidence of this happening. If that is the case, it might make sense to renew a contract for 2 or 3 more years so they can keep at it. Or, if they sign the songs and then never do a damn thing to get anything recorded, you haven't given away years of your productive life to some idiot who may simply change their area of interest or find out they aren't any good as a publisher in the first place or worse, may have been a scam artist from day one.

Reversion clauses are the only sane way to do business. It's fair to everyone involved. 2 or 3 years is enough time for a busy publisher to do something with the songs. If they are active, during those 2 or 3 years they will have many more NEW songs to also pitch. If nothing is happening, they need to release the songs and let the writer find someone else with a new angle, new connections and a new approach. That said, if the writer is happy with their efforts, nothing says they can't stay with the publisher beyond the date. I know of cases where that has also happened. Why would a publisher be scared to let their track record and service to the writer be used to judge if the writer wants to renew? Why would you want to force a writer to stay with you against their will unless you know they're going to be unhappy ahead of time.. mostly likely because you're a fraud or incapable of doing what you promised upfront in the first place.

Even legit superstar publishers fail to get most of their catalog cut. But those legit ones ALSO have a track record of tangible efforts made on behalf of their writers to get something going. A reversion clause simply keeps them honest. Honest companies wouldn't be afraid of that.

You dodged a huge bullet. Not just because of the reversion clause, but because the company threw a tantrum like a little kid and punished you because they were angry at someone else. Who would want to do business with a company like that no matter what the other factors were?

Brian