A question I get asked a lot is whether or not musicians should sign exclusively with publishers interested in pitching their material. Conversely, I'm also asked whether or not there is any sort of downside to signing with non exclusive publishers, libraries and the like. Should you as a musician just simply pursue as many "non exclusive" companies as possible and sign your songs to as many of these companies as possible? Planting more seeds is better than few right? Well...maybe....maybe not. There are a few factors to consider...
The Upside:
First, let's start with the positive aspects of signing with someone non exclusively. The obvious upside is that when you sign non exclusively with someone you're still free to pursue other leads. You're not "locked in". If another opportunity comes along for one of your songs and you haven't signed that song exclusively to someone, you're still free to use your songs for whatever projects you see fit. This is clearly a good position to be in. There's nothing more frustrating than knowing one of your songs would be a perfect fit for another project but not being able to act on it because you've already committed to working with someone else exclusively.
Secondly, there is something to the idea of the more seeds you plant the better. By working with multiple companies, you'll at least in theory have your music presented to a wider array of opportunities. Since music licensing is a bit of a numbers game, this is usually a good thing, at least in terms of exposing yourself to more potential opportunities.
The Downside:
The downside to non exclusive publishing/library deals isn't immediately apparent. But there is a downside and it's an issue that more and more is important to consider as you go out and pursue licensing opportunities.
The problem with non exclusive deals is that it has created an environment where there are now many companies with access to essentially the same music supply. Why is this a problem? For a few reasons.
Number one, the fact that so many places have similiar or at least overlapping catalogs of music has greatly diminished the leverage that these companies have in the marketplace. If a music supervisor can get the same track from a dozen different libraries, why do business with one versus another? If you can't compete on quality then the only thing left to compete on is price. As any good student of economics will know, when supply is greater than demand, the price goes down.
This is exactly what's happened when it comes to licensing fees. Many shows that used to pay a thousand dollars or more several years ago now pay as little as several hundred dollars or in some cases don't pay anything at all upfront! They don't have to because there are so many songs and companies chasing the same opportunity. It could be argued that shrinking music budgets have caused the amount of licensing fees to decrease, but I don't buy that. I think this is a simple case of supply and demand.
Secondly, the only way to do a "non exclusive" deal is to re-title the original track and re-register it with your PRO and attach a different publisher to the new, re-titled version. There is a little controversy about this practice and I've read many mixed opinions about companies that do this. To the best of my knowlege there is nothing illegal per se about doing this and in fact it's quite common.
The problem arrives when there are multiple publishers pitching the same song to the same project with multiple titles. It creates confusion and wastes time and again diminishes the value of the music being pitched.
In Conclusion
There are no one size fits all answers to this issue. I don't think it's prudent to simply avoid non exclusive companies nor do I think it's wise to only sign exclusive deals. I always tell clients that they're better off having two or three companies on their side that are actively pitching their music, working with them, helping them move their career forwards, etc.. than to sign with dozens of places non-exclusively that may or may not pitch their music. Focus on building strategic relationships with the right people. How? Feel people out, find out what projects they've worked on and where they plan on pitching your music. Get to know the people that are a part of your team. Focus more on finding the right people to help you license your music and don't worry as much about whether they are exclusive or non exclusive.
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