Recording - November 2019 - 60

they probably can't use it.

Continued from page 59
Number three (reason your song got used): The
song fits the scene perfectly, even though
sometimes it's just buried in the background, and
you're sitting in your living room, you've got your
42 friends and relatives over because you got a
placement, and you can't hear the song-don't be
upset. You know, the editor got in there, they
mixed it, and they did whatever. You are part of the
process, you got in there, and that's a win whether
you could hear your lyrics or not. Just understand
most song placements are going to be background,
and they are going to be under dialogue. Once in a
blue moon you're going to have that wonderful
featured vocal placement where everybody goes,
"High five," and then forgets you had it the next
day. But that's how it works.
Number four (reason your song got used): You
delivered the song on time. This is one of my
favorites. I can tell you that I have a deadline, but if
you don't make that deadline and you send me that
song later in the day, I've already submitted music
to the Music Supervisor and the train has left the
station. You send your song in the middle of the
night-I get to sleep sometimes. You send it the
next day or the next weekend, and I know a lot of
you have to have jobs and that you can't support
yourself completely with the income from your
music yet, but when there's a deadline, there is a
deadline. There's no flexibility; if they're looking

"If you don't make that deadline and
you send me that song later in the
day, I've already submitted music to
the Music Supervisor and the train
has left the station."
-Beth Wernick
for something right now, that's when our opportunity is there.
Number five (reason your song got used): When
your song nails their needs, and I say you've got to
have an instrumental mix of the song, you've got to
have it. That's how they edit. If you don't have your
WAV files of a mix minus the vocal, the editors
have nowhere to go if they need to do specific edits
in the scene to make your song work. A lot of you
go to somebody to have them produce your stuff,
for God's sake, you are paying them, remember to
get your files from them. Get your WAV file, get
that instrumental track, because you're gonna need
it. A lot of times on The Young and the Restless, they
use the instrumental track more often than the vocal
track, and that doesn't suck either. It's still good;
your music is still being heard. But you have to
have those elements [like the mix minus vocal], or
60 RECORDING November 2019

How often do they ask for a WAV?
It depends. Today, the Hallmark Channel called
and asked for two different WAVs. We do a lot of
Hallmark, especially for the Christmas movies, and
they surprise me. When they ask for the WAV file,
that probably means they're cutting to picture.
That means that you've probably got a 99% chance
that the song is going to be in the scene. So, if I
don't have those when they're getting ready to
make it work around the film, you're going to lose
that placement. I have songwriters and artists who
send me songs and say, "I sent you 10 songs, but I
don't have instrumentals for three, four and
seven." Please don't send them, because I'll fall in
love with songs three, four and seven, and you didn't bother to have all your elements, well... that's all
I'm saying on that subject, because that's what you
need to have to get placements.
Number six (reason your song got used): You've
cleared the writing and publishing beforehand. In
other words, all stakeholders in that song are identified and approve of it being licensed. I don't like
surprises, except on my birthday. I don't like having a song in my catalog [where] you don't tell me
who all the writers are. Sometimes somebody slips
me a Mickey and says, "Oh, did I not tell you that I
had a co-writer on that?"
Do you think they do it by intent? Or do they just not
know any better? That's a fatal error, right?
It's a really fatal error. That's the big one. I'm small
but mighty. [laughter] The truth is; I won't work
with you again if you do something that causes
problems for the production. Make sure that you've
got all that stuff lined up before you come to anybody. Even when you pay a singer a session- you
have them sign a document saying Work for Hire.
You own all the rights to that song, and when
you've got that Work for Hire document, they can't
surprise you later with a claim for a piece of the
composition.
What about when you have a friend do you a favor
and sing on one of your songs for free?
She just sang it and they didn't pay her at all? They
should give her something, because the singing
sold the song, right?
So what would be the right thing to do?
Oh, a little piece of the publishing. Or write her a
check for $100 or $200 or $500 or $1,000. Yeah, I
think people should be paid for their work.
[applause] Thank you. I don't see any reason why
you shouldn't.
And to your point, if you've sent something where you
don't have all that stuff cleared, it's not all kosher, and
it gets found out late in the game, that's really bad.
We've had some real crazy stuff happen. Just one
anecdote: There is this wonderful TV show-a
really big show-and the music supervisor called
and said, "Will you bring so-and-so's song?" Ter-

rific. It was in my catalog, and I let him know.
About six weeks down the road, they tell me that
it's final and it's in the show, and I call the writer
and tell him that it's confirmed, and he says, "Actually, that song might have been bought by Mike
Curb years ago." And I'm like, "You had six weeks
to tell me that you don't own this song?" I had literally had a huge panic attack, and I called up two
ex-boyfriends in the music business and said, "You
owe me! How do we fix this? Do you know Mike
Curb? Can you call him?" Long story short, they
did use the song. They got the license, but I wasn't
so happy, because it was my placement and I wasn't going to make any of the money. But there is a
God! Write that down. A year later the Greenspan
Company called me and said that there is $1,000
that's been sitting here a year for part of the master
sync fee. And I said, "It's mine!" I hadn't got anything for the song, and it had been sitting there for
a year and nobody claimed it? It's mine. But that's
the kind of thing that is just wrong. I mean, he had
ample opportunity to think that through. Were he
not the greatest songwriter and had so many other
amazing placements, I would have kicked him off
the roster. But people make mistakes, and you have
to forgive sometimes. But that was a bad one. If
you've previously sold your song's copyright, don't
give it to me!
By the way, something we run into almost weekly
when I do TAXI TV and I play members' music, and
then get a notice from YouTube saying, "We're letting
you know that the publisher..." Not a take-down
notice-I forget what they call it. So many people
that get stuff through CD Baby or TuneCore online
sign a publishing agreement and don't realize that
they have signed a publishing agreement. And there's
also a company called Hexford that apparently is
hijacking publishing on songs that go on YouTube. I
get these publishing notices through YouTube that
these things are signed by Hexford, and I've called
some of the members and go, "We didn't connect you
with company called Hexford." And when I Google
them, it turns out they are a scam company that is
stealing copyrights. There are all kinds of stuff about
it online.
Anyway, my longwinded point being that when you
work with TuneCore or CD Baby, make sure you understand what you are signing. Not that either of the
companies are evil in any way, shape or form, but they
have a routine thing where they say, "Would you like
us to publish you?" "Oh yeah, I've got a publishing
deal." Well, now you go to send your music to Beth and
you don't remember that three-and-a-half years ago
you signed a publishing deal where you agreed to the
terms and conditions of CD Baby or TuneCore or other
things like them, and that's a problem. Someone told
me there are something like 600,000 songs, or something, that are published by CD Baby, so I've got to
believe that a lot of people in this room have stuff
that's published that they may not even know is published.
Yeah, that's a really valid point. You might want to
Continued on page 63

Recording - November 2019

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