Frequently asked questions:

Many highly-successfull copyright owners are opting to work with independent publishers and capital partners. Heart's Bluff is providing such an alternative as we build our portfolio through acquisitions. At the same time we are providing a place for catalog owners to monetize and reinvest their catalog earnings. As the conglomerates focus on survival and mergers, we are quietly building a great independent publishing company.

Owners have many reasons for selling. Many sellers are funding new publishing or recording ventures. Other times they are retiring, funding college, buying equipment, settling an estate, traveling, building a new house... or just need need some cash! We have evaluated catalogs from publishers (large and small), songwriters (rich and poor), estates, and more.

In most cases yes! Many of our clients come to us from publishing companies such as Universal, Sony, BMG, EMI, Warner/Chappell, etc. Many of these writers and publishers have part of their interest with a conglomerate, but want to diversify their co-pub, or writer-share portions with someone else. And often the other company has passed on buying additional interests. So we offer an alternative.

We have very deep pockets available for select, larger catalogs. Please call us to discuss.

We buy full or divided interests in Publisher Shares, Co-Pub Shares and/or Writer Shares.

Unfortunatly, the songs in your catalog must be generating at least $10,000 a year in royalties before we can help you. We know there are many incredible songs out there earning less, but our transaction costs are just too high to consider purchasing them. It's not a good deal for you or us. Sorry.

Our strategic plan calls for initially building a solid base of catalogs. So in the immediate future, we are not signing staff writers.

No! We love all kinds of music! We are building a very diverse group of catalogs.

In most cases we are glad to provide an opinion. If we can't help you, we can probably point you to an expert we know.

As the process moves along, and because music publishing is such a specialized field, we absolutely recommend that you have an experienced intellectual property ("IP") attorney review any documents. If you don’t know any IP attorneys, we are happy to recommend several independent attorneys who are not affiliated with our company. We also know several experienced financial specialists.

Some people prefer to let their attorney handle all communication, while others prefer to speak with us directly. We are happy to work with you either way.

We can talk if you have a formal, exclusive written consent from the owner. We avoid any situation that amounts to "hearsay" because in many cases, catalogs are referred to us from multiple sources. We need the owner themselves to tell us exactly who is representing them. Owners must pay their own commissions.

We analyze a number of factors. These include:

• The age of the songs.
• Genre or type of music.
• The past success of the songs.
• The stability of earnings over time.
• The complexity of the deal.

The estimate that we send to you will be informed by our experience, and by our desire to create win-win partnerships that deliver a fair deal to you.

We will ensure that your catalog remains viable and active. A plan is customized for each catalog. This is why we don’t keep generic "pluggers" on staff, but hire them independently per catalog.

Here’s how the process typically works:

1) You call or email with a general description of your catalog. In some cases, depending on the confidentiality you require, we can issue a non-disclosure agreement. It basically says we will take a look at your catalog, we won’t tell anyone we’re talking with you, or divulge any information about it.

2) You send us the following preliminary information:

• A detailed list of the royalty-bearing songs in your catalogue, their ages and uses.
• Three year summary of combined earnings for entire catalog
• An individual summary of the top earning songs and their royalty history (representing at least 90% of the entire catalog).

3) Within 10 business days, we’ll send a bid to you.

4) Upon your acceptance of a bid, we’ll send a formal letter-of-intent within seven business days. This "LOI" is a legal contract and should be reviewed by an IP Attorney.

5) Once the income and ownership are verified by our due diligence team, we will complete a formal sales contract. (A detailed due-diligence checklist is available upon request).

The timing of the process is impossible to predict, without knowing the complexity of the deal. The letter-of-intent will specify a closing date that drives everyone to complete the deal as quickly as possible.

We are known for our quick closings. We have closed on some very large catalogs within 60 days.

6) The deal is finalized, and we’ll transfer the funds to your account.

We haven't yet, but have been in several interesting discussions regarding other types of royalty-flowing assets (such as Master Recordings). If you have an idea, let us look at it.

In short, we want to get the word out. We feel like the "catalog-world" has been too secretive, and exclusive. We want to have direct relationships with catalog owners.

We are building our core business acquiring proven catalogs. So we are reaching out to specific communities where professional publishers and writers reside. We are advertising on a limited basis to members of ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, Harry Fox, etc.. We are also trying to get the word out to professional organizations who have writer/publisher members (i.e. NSAI, NARAS, AFofM, AFTRA, etc.) We have planned advertisements in Music Row Magazine, American Songwriter, Billboard, Rowfax and others.

Many opportunities also come from administrators, business managers, attorneys, etc.

If you know a potential seller, please feel free to send our link to them. But please be selective.