Music Licensing Cliff Notes for Indie Filmmakers: Understanding the Basics
by Dolly Turner on December 1, 2011 in Music Supervision
Here are cliff notes for music licensing that will help you secure the ideal music for your phenomenal film, plan in advance, manage your budget!
Why you should care: You’ve worked hard to create a great film! Music does make a difference; think of your favorite soundtrack (maybe The Godfather) and how it enhanced the film. As a creator, when your film is released you want to be paid fairly, so do music artists and composers so… approach artists and musicians from a place of respect and collaboration from one creator to another. If someone pirated your film or screened it without your knowledge, you’d want collect!
Budgeting for Music: Be sure to set aside a music budget that fits your tastes and wish list. The general guideline is 10% to 15% of the overall budget. If you don’t use it all, great, but at least you have wiggle room. Using a composer to score the entire the film including cues may provide the most favorable negotiated fees for music (especially if it’s work for hire). If you’d like to incorporate licensed music in addition to a score, look for cool unpublished and unreleased music rather than top 10 popular songs. Popular songs released from popular artists will blow the budget and it’s best not to even use it for temp music, especially if the lyrics add context for a scene.
Seek Out Professional Help: The process for clearing commercially released and unreleased music differs. Clearing music can be a complicated process even with this cheat sheet. LaRonda Sutton, Music Supervisor and Music Licensing Consultant shares, “The business of music licensing is an integral part of your film from pre to post”. Using a professional music supervisor or licensing consultant is advised for during all stages of your film including pre-production, completion, general and festival screenings, digital, home entertainment, and theatrical releases. Sutton further adds that, “this will save significant time, money and potential lawsuits. This is an area of expertise that can’t be overlooked or underestimated”.
Song Ownership: A song has many parts: Artist (s), Songwriter (s), Record Company, and Music Publisher (s). Each of these entities must provide approval to use a song. The best way to save time and money is to evaluate the songs popularity and owners in advance. The more artists and writers, the more time, money and approvals are needed. As an example, it will be more efficient to clear a song that an artist wrote and performed alone with no music samples. If the writer is signed to publisher X, and another writer is signed to publisher Y, you need approvals from Publisher X, Publisher Y, and the Record Company (who also secures the Artist approval). Conversely if you select a song that has 4 writers, performed by 1 artist, and they are all signed to different publishers you will need a total of 5 approvals (4 publishers and 1 record company). It’s even worse if a sample was used (requiring additional publisher and record label approval for the original song). And you have a major project if someone has passed away and you have to locate an administrator of an estate who represents the artists or their publishing. So keep it simple!
Affordable Quality Music sources: Performing rights societies ASCAP,
BMI, and SESAC Film & TV Divisions, along with Orchard Music, Pump Audio, Jingle Punks to name a few. The performing rights organizations provide great music by emerging artists who are really talented, and if the band is not signed to a major label, you can obtain the master license directly from the band. In addition, most major publishers (Universal, Sony ATV/EMI, Warner Chappell) offer film and television production music.
Clearances Needed: Record company (Master owner), Artist (must provide permission to use their song which is usually secured by the record label), Music Publisher (s), and Songwriter (s).
Synchronization (sync) License: Quotes for the sync license can be obtained from the music publisher and this information is available via the performing rights societies ASCAP, BMI, SESAC who provide songwriter and music publisher contact information.
Master License: The entity that owns the recording, typically the record company. The record company must also secure the artist approval for use of the song. If the artist is not signed to a label, the artist or production company is typically the master owner (contact info is available via the performing rights society).
Usage and Territory: Be sure to discuss the type, length and scope of usage with your Music Supervisor or Music consultant. Costs vary based on promotional vs. commercial use, placement (opening or closing credits, etc.) in the film, duration of the song, digital, home entertainment, theatrical, television and domestic vs. international.
Red Flags!: Using music from deceased artists could require estate approvals and some are easier to seek approvals from than others. You should factor this into the clearance wait period.
Unless you have a hefty, I mean hefty music budget, do not use music from major recording artists or popular artists signed to major publishers. These fees can begin at $5,000 (older song from B list artists) and go upwards of $50,000 (Beyonce, Pink, Cold Play, Kanye West) and that’s just publishing (and maybe for 1 writer not all 4). Remember you have to pay the label and artists, and the publisher! It doesn’t matter that they are your friend – the label and publisher want to collect as much as possible. One way to reduce the fees associated with a popular song is to find the same song recorded by a less popular recording artists, or having the song re-recorded by a band but you must factor in the recording and musician fees. You will still have to pay a sync fee to the music publisher but not clear the master.
References: Music Money and Success by Brabec and Brabec, music supervisor, music consultant, music clearance company, and your attorney.
Final advice: Have fun with it! I’ve seen the good, the bad and the down right ugly and launched Hitco Music Publishing’s (owned by music industry icon and X Factor’s LA Reid) Film & TV Division, and marketed film soundtracks. This is a cheat sheet to provide you with a layman’s overview so you understand the basics. It is important to review with your producer, attorney, music supervisor or music clearance company. Music clearances impact your ability to license and sell your film.