| In many of these agreements there is usually a guarantee by the major publisher that it will contribute a specified amount of money during the term, which will finance all or a portion of the songwriter agreements signed by the co-venture. For example, there might be a guarantee that the major publisher will provide a minimum amount of advance funding on an aggregate term basis (e.g., $500,000 over a three-year period) or on an annual basis (e.g., $150,000 per year during each year of the term of the co-venture agreement).
There will also be limits on the amount of money that the co-venture partner is entitled to commit to a particular deal. For example, the co-venture partner may be able to sign deals without the approval of the major publisher if the annual advances for such agreements are under $75,000. If an agreement with a songwriter provides for advances in excess of the $75,000 annual limit (for example, $125,000 per year), the deal could only be entered into with the approval of the major publisher.
Additionally, if the co-venture partner exceeds the annual aggregate advance fund, no further agreements may be entered into without the approval of the major publisher. For example, if the aggregate advance fund for the signing of all deals during a particular year is $150,000 and the co-venture partner is allowed to enter into $75,000 deals without the approval of the major publisher, if separate $75,000 and $50,000 songwriter agreements ($125,000 total) had already been signed during the year and the co-venture partner wanted to sign another $75,000 deal, approval would be needed since the yearly $150,000 maximum would be exceeded even though the individual songwriter agreement was not above the $75,000 limit that needed approval.
There are also certain standards that must be met for any agreement to fall under the "without approval" category. For example, the qualifications might require that the compositions be owned for life of copyright or at least have a 20-year retention term, that there be a commitment that there will be a certain number of released compositions per contract year, or that the publisher have the ability to grant television and motion picture synchronization licenses without the permission of the songwriter, among other terms. If these qualifying terms are not included in the songwriter agreement, the co-venture partner will not be able to sign the deal unless the major publisher approves the deal despite the fact that the individual agreement is under the advance limit.
These guaranteed funding provisions are also usually part of the type of co-venture agreement that provides that the co-venture partner must pay a portion of the advances due songwriters (in contrast to the co-venture arrangement that has the major publisher responsible for 100% of all advances due). For example, the major publisher may guarantee that it will be responsible for up to $210,000 per year in signing advances, provided that the co-venture partner is responsible for the payment of 25% of the total advances paid to songwriters. In this case, the co-venture partner would be agreeing to pay $70,000 in advances to writers if the major publisher paid out $210,000 in advances. The schedule would look as follows:
| Annual Major Co-Venture |
| Year | Advance Total | Publisher 75% | Partner 25% |
| 1 | $280,000 | $210,000 | $70,000 |
| 2 | $280,000 | $210,000 | $70,000 |
| 2 | $280,000 | $210,000 | $70,000 |
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