Music Licensing
by Steve Veloudos
Music licensing can be a very confusing subject. My intent
with this article is to give you enough details on what
music licensing is and what are your rights to use music in
advertising and / or video productions.
A few months ago I was contacted by a company that was
celebrating 20 years in business. They wanted to put
together a radio commercial that highlighted their
celebration. Their request was to use Kool and the Gangs
song Celebration in their radio spot. I explained to them in
order to do this they would have to obtain a licensing which
would cost them quite a bit of money. This was not an option
for them due to their limited budget and ultimately they
told me that they “went another direction” with their
advertising.
If I had agreed to use this song without obtaining a
licensing I would have put both of our companies at risk. It
was not worth the risk just to make a sale. Beware that
there are unscrupulous production companies that will do
this type of illegal activity so the best protection you
have is knowledge.
The copyright law protects writers of music by giving them
exclusive right to their music. Once a piece of music is
under copyright protection it is illegal to use it without
getting permission to the owner of the copyright.
There are actually two types of copyrights in the United
States. One is the actual copyright which is denoted with
the familiar C with a circle around it. This protection is
for the actual melody, lyrics and arrangement of the music.
The copyright is usually owned by the actual artist that
wrote the piece or their publishing company.
The second form of copyright is the actual recording itself.
This is denoted by a P with a circle around it. This
protection covers the performance of the song caught on tape
or digital media and released on CD or other media. Many
times a record or production company will own this
performance right.
If you want to use a song in a production, you need obtain a
Master Use license from the owner of the copyright and a
Synchronization license (often called a sync license) from
the owner of the performance of the song.
The fees for synchronization licenses vary greatly. Low-end
TV usage (music is playing from car radio in a scene) can
cost up to $2,000. In a film, the fee may be as high as
$10,000. A popular song is worth more, possibly $3,000 for
TV and $25,000 for film. A song used as the theme song for a
film might get $50,000 to $75,000. Commercials can get even
more money. Fees for a popular song can range from $25,000
to $500,000 plus per year. The typical range for a
well-known song is $75,000 to $200,000 for a one year
national usage in the United States on television and radio.
I think you will agree with me that that is a lot of money
and usually way over budget for many video and radio
productions.
To get around these outrageous fees, music production
companies sell buyout music. When you purchase a buyout CD
you do not need to obtain a licensing to use the music. You
can use the music hassle free and at a much lower cost.
Buyout music or royalty-free, as it applies to my products,
means that for your one-time purchase price, you can legally
use the music in your productions for life of ownership. All
copyrights of the music remain with Zebra Music LLC. My
jingle licensing agreement allows a protected area of 200
miles. By doing this no other companies in a local market
will have the same jingle.
Many other production companies offer a similar buy out
music licensing. I would advise you to read the licensing
agreements with other production companies and ask questions
if you have concerns.
Network broadcast and international broadcast of buyout
production music is cleared through a performance
organization (like BMI or ASCAP). The revenue that these
songs produce when they are aired is paid directly from
broadcast station licensing, NOT from you as a producer.
These performance organizations then in turn pay each artist
based on the amount their song or songs were aired on the
radio or TV.
I hope this article has cleared up any confusion or
questions that you have had about copyright and music
licensing.
**********************************************************
Steve Veloudos owns and operates Zebra Music LLC. It’s a
one stop shop for jingles and library music. Visit Steve’s
web sites and get free monthly music that you can use for
your productions.
http://www.zebramusic.com
http://www.buyoutdb.com
zebra24@msn.com
480-540-7768
**********************************************************
Copyright (c) 2006 Peter D. Marshall / All Rights Reserved
Recent Comments