Custodial Plan

"What will happen to all my music scores and parts?....."

ACA's Custodial Management Plan provides for the continued availability of the composer’s work for research, publication, recording, sales, and rentals, through ACA’s custodial management activities, in collaboration with the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections in Performing Arts.

This visionary program through ACA allows for the safe longterm deposit of your music scores, parts, and manuscript materials, in a state-of-the-art archival facility at the university, where performers and researchers can find your scores, in perpetuity.

Regular ACA members enjoy this benefit of safe storage as a part of regular membership. If a composer is no longer composing or managing their own catalog, it's a good idea to deposit all of their material into a central place, with an agreement that specifies how the materials can be used in the future. 

The main causes for many important works of music being lost from publication or performance are 1. the inability of the composer's family to continue managing requests, and/or 2. the scores being packed away in archives that allow for research-only access. ACA is working with the University of Maryland (College Park) on this custodial plan, which we feel will revolutionize the way that 20th and 21st-century music scores can be published/distributed in the future.

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ACA members, past and present, or their estate may establish custodial membership at any point. Note that non-ACA (including ASCAP) members also may be eligible for the custodial plan, though prior approval must be obtained from the ACA membership committee.

ACA Custodial Management service:

* Provides for the distribution of scores, parts, and other performance materials through sales or rentals of works deposited with ACA.

* Provides for the distribution of royalties to the estate contact designated by the composer in accordance with the ACA agreement on all royalties collected on behalf of the composer.

* Maintains, updates, and promotes the composer's online music catalog for sales, rentals, recordings, and other licensed uses.

* Provides a support organization to heirs and estates, on questions regarding aspects of performance, publication, copyright, or recordings of the composer's ACA works.

In order to implement the plan, ACA will:

* Provide for the deposit of the composer's music scores and performance materials into the ACA collection in the University of Maryland (College Park) Performing Arts Library, and to scan works (create a high-resolution digital photo-image of each page) for deposit into a managed digital sheet music archive.

* Create a professional "finding guide" for the composer's inventory list within the library's catalog system.

* Provide an annual report on sales and rentals and other licensed uses of the composer's music to his/her estate.

* Accept from the estate or heirs, additional music for the purpose of sale or rental.

* Receive assignment of distribution rights to composer's works no longer available through other sources. Once deposited with ACA, a work will continue to be available through the University of Maryland Library, Special Music Collections, and is never completely "out of print."

* Maintain contacts, references and biographies of the composer for the purpose of providing information for concert program notes, recordings, scholarly research, and journal and news articles.

* Note that ACA does not claim ownership of copyright for any music on deposit. It will, in all possible cases, provide copyright information to the University of Maryland, so that questions arising throughout the life of the copyright regarding access and duplication may not hinder the future promotion and dissemination of the composer's works.

Some Questions...Some Answers

"How will people know to come to ACA for my music?"

Primarily through ACA's on-line, searchable internet music database, at www.composers.com. The ACA catalog currently (2009) contains nearly ten thousand titles, and receives more than 100 inquiries per month for information on works listed. The website is accessible to the public worldwide through internet search engines. Enhanced versions of composer information are available through university libraries, streamlining access to ACA's music collection.

"What if another publisher wants to publish a composition distributed through the Custodial Management Plan?"

Heirs and estates may transfer publication rights to another publisher at any time. A transfer form must be requested from ACA and submitted to BMI. We recommend that the physical scores or printing masters remain on deposit in the ACA Collection at the University of Maryland, for longterm archive safety, regardless of changes of publishers or distributors.

"If I establish Custodial Membership with ACA, who owns my copyrights after I'm gone?"

Whomever you specify in your will. As with living composers, ACA does not own copyrights to works in its catalog.

"If one of my compositions earns a large amount of money in the future, who gets it?"

The composer's share of performance royalties will continue to be paid by his/her performing rights society, to heirs as designated. For works that are registered with ACA, this will remain in force, while the publisher's share of the royalties will be distributed to the estate, as per your agreement and assignments with ACA.

"Will ACA, in effect, be my publisher?"

Yes. ACA will receive the publisher's share of performance royalties from BMI, as is standard in the industry, and pay royalties to its composer and custodial members based on a percentage of net profit on all music directly licensed, sold, or rented.

"What if a work published by another publisher goes out of print?"

The heirs or estate can request a transfer from the publisher, to deposit the work with ACA for future distribution and archiving. The ACA Custodial Management Plan may be established by a composer at any time in order to assure the services herein described. It is also available after a composer's death to the heirs or estate with the same benefits.

How the Plan Begins

The preparation of a complete list of ACA works, generated by the composer or his/her estate, assisted by the ACA archivists, greatly enhances the value of the composer's catalog, and is essential for establishing custodial membership. This list will contain information on copyrights for each work, and all clearances (including texts) needed for future distribution. The plan commences upon the composer's death. At that time, heirs arrange for transfer to the New York office any scores and performance materials not previously deposited. A prior letter of instruction from the composer to the heirs or ACA, or an addendum to the composer's Will may be helpful in this process.

How much does it cost?

The price for a custodial membership is a one-time flat fee, the amount of which is based on the size and condition of the materials that will be managed. The fee can be paid over a 2-year period, but there are no additional charges after the initial fee is paid, unless the composer or estate wishes to deposit additional materials after the initial plan agreement is signed.

There may be additional fees for larger collections, for the subsequent deposit of additional archival items, and/or for the digital scanning of any or all of the composer’s scores. Scanning will greatly enhance ACA's and its assignees ability to display, print and distribute the custodial member's music in perpetuity. The fees may be reduced for collections that have been pre- inventoried by the estate in a format that is web-ready, and/or presented to ACA in Finale files, or in high-res PDF digital format.

The custodial membership fee has two tiers: one for members of ACA in good standing for 5 years or more, and a higher tier for non members. The exact fee schedule is determined by an evaluation of the composer's collection, and set by the ACA Board of Governors.

If a member composer chooses not to purchase custodial membership, his or her estate may keep the ACA services in place by continuing to pay regular membership dues on behalf of the deceased. All materials on deposit at the time of death will remain in the archives of the University of Maryland (College Park) Music Library, Special Collections.

Promotional activities on the part of ACA will necessarily cease if a composer’s membership ends through non-payment of dues or the rejecting of a custodial plan. Any further promotion of the composer’s catalog will be up to the discretion of ACA, and most likely, collections will be transferred to the curator at the university, and will revert to research-only status there.

How the Plan is Financed Funds received from members of the Custodial Management Plan are used to fulfill the obligations of membership services, for website catalog preparation and maintenance, for processing scores for the University of Maryland Library, and for professional scanning, printing, binding, and shipping services. Every effort is made to provide all services insofar as the costs are covered by the fees received.

In cases where costs have exceeded this fee, the overage may be billed against the member's royalties. The availability of a composer's works for purchase or rental many years after death is a service that is not widely available. ACA has continued to manage catalogs for many custodial composer members, since the 1950s.

Scanning/PDF deposit of scores The ACA scanning and PDF project is visionary, in that it will ensure the perpetual availability of a composers' catalog for years to come, regardless of whether ACA remains its managing distributor. The institution of the University is as safe a place as possible for a composer's physical archive. For the digital dissemination of scores, university systems connect databases of information that reach out through the internet to students, the public, and communities worldwide. Access to library materials on the internet is becoming standard.

In every case, the ACA Custodial Plan is designed for the best possible benefit to the composer's legacy, whether materials are in physical or digital format (or both). ACA and its partners at the University of Maryland are beginning to establish a large digital database of ACA scores. These files can be made available to performers and researchers around the world without printing and shipping. It also allows the publisher to request reprints without moving the physical materials and master scores, which can remain safe in the archive environment.

The ACA Custodial Management Program is an ongoing, long-term project. ACA, with the University of Maryland Performing Arts Library, is establishing a firm reputation as a primary source for performance material of American composers of the past and present.

Currently, the ACA archive collection contains scores and papers of its founders, including Aaron Copland, Henry Cowell, and Elliott Carter, as well as the music of Bulent Arel, Miriam Gideon, Robert Helps, Otto Luening, Dane Rudhyar, Halsey Stevens, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Karl and Vally Weigl, and many others.

Please contact us by phone, or by email at info [at] composers dot com, for more information, confidential consultation, or for a custodial membership brochure and application.

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