Are you a songwriter or publisher with a catalog that you have received advances against from any third-party company and/or investor?  Or, are you considering deals with entities involving upfront payments in exchange for downstream licensing rights?

Digital Music News is now conducting research on the emerging area of songwriter advances, with future editorial coverage planned.  As part of an interview related to your experiences licensing against advances, your identity will be protected unless you offer permission to be part of our subsequent report on the issue.

As part of our research, we are looking at a variety of investment types and structures in this growing area.  These include:

(a) Investors offering advances for publishing catalogs at extremely high-rate (predatory) business interest rates;

(b) Deals with companies offering simpler advance structures that are flatly recoupable against future royalty earnings;

(c) Advances for total (100%) catalog control, partial control, or mere rights to administer, negotiate or license;

(d) Any other investment vehicle or partnership involving advance payments in exchange for control over your catalog (previously written or future work);

(e) Any sale of your catalog/copyright, in full or in part.

We look forward to discussing your experiences, initially via a survey of questions we’ve compiled based on our initial research into this area.