'Publisher will have the sole and exclusive right to administer and exploit the Composition throughout the world to execute in its own name any and all licenses and agreements affecting and respecting the Composition...
Included with the rights referred to above, without limitation, is Writer's irrevocable grant to Publisher of the sole and exclusive right, in perpetuity and throughout the universe with respect to the Composition...'
I suppose he assumed I was born yesterday and/or was desperate enough to sign any agreement without first running it past various legal and music experts (I'm fortunate enough to know a few). Although, really, I didn't need to do that to realise that this was just a crap rip-off.
Ah well - ever onwards... The version he heard of the song was a demo version I'd had done in Nashville. This weekend I'm recording my own version at Tigersonic Studio in the expert hands of Felix Macintosh, and with Gilly Spencer and David Naylor doing some fabulous salsa-style piano and percussion for me.
There are so many stories of songwriters being ripped off after signing contracts like this one - it makes my blood boil - though it also makes me breathe a sigh of relief that I haven't just handed over all rights to my composition to some fucking con man in Beverly Hills.