This is a fundamental problem for authors’ rights. In WHF contracts, producers, not creators, own the rights to musical works. With such contracts and buy-out clauses, the creator, or author, forever loses control of his or her work, for all uses and all territories.
As a result, creators are not associated with the success of the audiovisual works (series, TV shows etc.) that incorporate their composition and do not receive their fair share of the revenue it generates.
The initial fee paid by producers in exchange for work has no relationship to the value which that work generates for the producer.
Example: Let’s imagine a composer having written the music of a feature-length film which sold 450,000 movie theatre tickets (i.e. the film is a success). The film soundtrack is available on audio streaming platforms. The composer has signed a WFH contract whereby the film producer has agreed to pay a fixed composing fee of €15,000. This €15,000 typically serves to cover the cost to produce the work, to hire musicians, orchestra, editors, studios etc. The composer is likely to see very little, and in some instances, nothing of that amount even at the beginning. And then he/shee will receive nothing more whereas she/he could have earned over a 10-year period as much as €80,000 in copyright royalties for the exploitation of his work each time the film is broadcast on TV or Subscription VOD platforms or his music is aired separately on radio or audio streaming platforms.