Selling Song Rights

[ollie]

A friend's son has been asked to sell the rights to one of his songs to a local radio station. Neither have any experience in this regard and are wondering what a fair deal would be.

I know this is kind of random but does anyone have any knowledge in this area that I can put him in contact with?

[Davey Boy 2.0]

ollie's selling out on Union of Authority!

someone call....... those other guys

[AD]

call socan and they might be able to recommend someone.

[StoneMtn]

If he really wants to talk to a true expert on this:

John Stephen Stohn "Steve Stohn"

Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Richmond LLP

Business Address 2-133 King St E

Toronto Ontario

M5C 1G6

Phone 416 961 2020

Fax 416 961 2021

[The Chameleon]

The main question is what rights is he selling? and for how long?

Is he selling the publishing? Performance? or Synch rights?

My guess is they want to buy the publishing so they can reproduce and play over and over the song...If that is the case he needs to know who much he will get paid vs. how many copies they make or play.

Also he needs to know when the rights revert back to him. If the contract says "in perpetuity"..which means forever DO NOT SIGN IT...

Unless they are paying a tonne.

[StoneMtn]

Really, eh?

I thought that contracts in perpetuity were inherently unenforceable in Canada, and instead a term indicating that they can be terminated by either party on "reasonable notice" is imputed instead; should the contract ever be litigated.

I was pretty sure this developed out of British law, carried over to Canadian contract law.

[Basher]

Reminds me of a joke: A lawyer and a musician wander into a music-law thread....

Um, maybe I am thinking about something else.

[bouche]

same friend. I asked what the intended use was for, and he didn't have a straight answer.

It sounds like it is a christian group that want to use it as their "theme song" for some sort of radio show, or possibly podcast.

the funny thing is that the guys son's band is pretty hardcore metal. why would a christian group want anything to do with this?

I could be way off, but if I am or not, I'll be back in this thread.

[The Chameleon]

Really, eh?

I thought that contracts in perpetuity were inherently unenforceable in Canada, and instead a term indicating that they can be terminated by either party on "reasonable notice" is imputed instead; should the contract ever be litigated.

I was pretty sure this developed out of British law, carried over to Canadian contract law.

Not in the music rights/law world. I worked for the Canadian Musical Right and Reproduction Agency for 2 years and personally saw artist locked in by this, my father also owns a large music publishing company and they never let any of their writers sign such deals.....