WhistlersBrother
Member
OK, I am considering joining Fullscreen (FAM) and I have a serious concern. I hope some musicians here--actually songwriters--can share with me your experience with Fullscreen so I know whether my concern is something legitimate, or not. Please be careful to not disclose any specifics about your contract with Fullscreen in answering. What I'm looking for is your personal experience, and in your answer please tell me how long you've been with Fullscreen as a point of reference for me as well, if you don't mind.
Mods, I'm new here, and I really need to understand this, but if anything in my post is too dicey or getting too specific and it needs to be removed, please let me know. This is really important for me to understand so I can make an informed decision.
Here are my concerns. By joining the Fullscreen network, I am, if I understand it correctly, giving up ownership of all the content I've uploaded to YouTube. During the term of the contract, I'm basically granting the rights to all my YT content to Fullscreen. This is in order for Fullscreen to monetize ("claim") the content so I can start earning a better CPM and all that, of course. I would have no problem with that if I was a talking head whose videos consist of me jabbering on and on with occasionally semi-witty commentary about the latest current events or Internet trends.
BUT--I'm not. I'm a songwriter. I write my own songs and I sell my music outside of YouTube. (What little bit that I can, anyway, on iTunes, Amazon, etc.) I also occasionally license my recordings of my original songs for use outside of YouTube and make a little money with them. I hope someday to get something placed in a major commercial, TV show, or film, but so far it's been smaller independent projects. I also have plans to try to get some of my music played on a local radio station. So I "exploit" my creations outside of YouTube all the time, and hope to do it even more in the future. ("Exploit" simply meaning, I use them to make money with.)
So I'm concerned. I don't want to give up my rights to exploit my own original content outside of YouTube once I've handed ownership of those rights over to Fullscreen in order to join the network. So...
Do any musicians here (who write, record, and sell your own original music) have any experience with any of this, and what can you tell me about your experiences since joining Fullscreen? Do you still control the rights to sell, license, and/or otherwise use your own original compositions and recordings outside of YouTube any way you want?
**Another question:** Does Fullscreen take your original music that you've uploaded to YouTube, and add it to their royalty-free music library for other Fullscreen partners to use, without compensating you for that use?
Even with all the benefits of Fullscreen, I just don't think it's worth it, if it means giving up ownership of my own original songs. But right now I'm just guessing, based on the little bit that I know. I hope someone here has specific knowledge of these issues and can share your experiences with me so I can fully understand the ramifications of what I'm considering getting myself into.
If anyone here works for Fullscreen and can comment on this too, I think it would probably help give some transparency to other songwriters who might have the same concern in the future. (Assuming the answers are favorable to the songwriter, anyway, which I truly hope.)
Thank you for your help.
Mods, I'm new here, and I really need to understand this, but if anything in my post is too dicey or getting too specific and it needs to be removed, please let me know. This is really important for me to understand so I can make an informed decision.
Here are my concerns. By joining the Fullscreen network, I am, if I understand it correctly, giving up ownership of all the content I've uploaded to YouTube. During the term of the contract, I'm basically granting the rights to all my YT content to Fullscreen. This is in order for Fullscreen to monetize ("claim") the content so I can start earning a better CPM and all that, of course. I would have no problem with that if I was a talking head whose videos consist of me jabbering on and on with occasionally semi-witty commentary about the latest current events or Internet trends.
BUT--I'm not. I'm a songwriter. I write my own songs and I sell my music outside of YouTube. (What little bit that I can, anyway, on iTunes, Amazon, etc.) I also occasionally license my recordings of my original songs for use outside of YouTube and make a little money with them. I hope someday to get something placed in a major commercial, TV show, or film, but so far it's been smaller independent projects. I also have plans to try to get some of my music played on a local radio station. So I "exploit" my creations outside of YouTube all the time, and hope to do it even more in the future. ("Exploit" simply meaning, I use them to make money with.)
So I'm concerned. I don't want to give up my rights to exploit my own original content outside of YouTube once I've handed ownership of those rights over to Fullscreen in order to join the network. So...
Do any musicians here (who write, record, and sell your own original music) have any experience with any of this, and what can you tell me about your experiences since joining Fullscreen? Do you still control the rights to sell, license, and/or otherwise use your own original compositions and recordings outside of YouTube any way you want?
**Another question:** Does Fullscreen take your original music that you've uploaded to YouTube, and add it to their royalty-free music library for other Fullscreen partners to use, without compensating you for that use?
Even with all the benefits of Fullscreen, I just don't think it's worth it, if it means giving up ownership of my own original songs. But right now I'm just guessing, based on the little bit that I know. I hope someone here has specific knowledge of these issues and can share your experiences with me so I can fully understand the ramifications of what I'm considering getting myself into.
If anyone here works for Fullscreen and can comment on this too, I think it would probably help give some transparency to other songwriters who might have the same concern in the future. (Assuming the answers are favorable to the songwriter, anyway, which I truly hope.)
Thank you for your help.
