Music Licensing Explained
Licensing music for TV and film is the process of music procurement for motion picture, usually handled by a Music Supervisor working on behalf of the television network, film production company, or advertising agency. The project’s Music Supervisor is responsible for identifying the most appropriate music for the motion picture and liaising with the copyright owner/administrator of the recording and publishing of the music, which may not necessarily be the same person: signed artists’ publishing (the music’s intellectual property rights) are usually managed by a publishing company or publishing rights division within a label, and the recording (or “Master”) is usually managed by a record company or master rights division within a label. Learn more…
MTV is leveraging its massively successful Rock Band game to independent artists by introducing Rock Band Network, Rock Band’s own music catalogue and store which budding and established musicians can submit their material for review by Rock Band’s music supervisors. Artists will have total control over the music they submit, from mixing and editing for game related uses to pricing individual tracks for retail. It’s a potentially incredible opportunity to publish and market your music to a very large, loyal and highly-targeted music-loving demographic.
JamLegend is the web-based answer to Guitar Hero and Rock Band, providing a free and social gaming experience that allows users to ‘play along’ with great tracks using their computer key board (which doubles as a guitar if you hold it upright and use the ‘Enter’ key as the plectrum). It’s a fun way to listen to and discover new music, play along with favourite tracks, and compete against like-minded music lovers. JamLegend relies on user-generated music from independent artists. Considering the scope and scale of the video gaming industry, it appears that JamLegend has created are very viable and powerful opportunity for artists and music promoters to garner additional exposure. Here is how to submit your tunes.
TheMusicSnob recently published a post which frowns upon PumpAudio’s changes to its standard licensing agreement, specifically the shift in the 50/50 split to 65/35 in favour of PumpAudio. The post also highlights the practice of ‘Re-Title Publishing’ (also known as ‘Derivative Publishing’) where the song title is registered under an alternate title (e.g. Fields of Gold -> Gold Fields) on the cue sheet so that PumpAudio can collect a portion of the royalties.
PumpAudio was one of the first pre-cleared searchable music libraries that considered submissions from independent artists. The company was acquired by Getty Images in 2007 for $42 million along with a catalogue of 20,000 independent artists. Although the recent shift from 50/50 to 65/35 is bad news for the artist, it is a reflection of deflated upfront synchronization license fees in an increasingly competitive media landscape and down economy.
Re-Title Publishing is an accepted industry practice and serves two principle purposes: It allows the broker to collect backend royalties in addition to frontend fees and protects the songwriter by ensuring that the broker only collects monies for the commercial use(s) he procures. To combat any public confusion that this may cause and benefit the songwriter’s marketing efforts, many films and TV shows offer a “gratis” cue where the original song title is used as opposed to the derivative title in the screen credit roll or music soundtrack release.
Music licensing, a seemingly clandestine industry bisect, is a lucrative business for songwriters and PumpAudio was pivotal to lowering the barrier of entry for upstart and unsigned artists. YouLicense followed suit with an ‘open’ music licensing marketplace and transparent business model.
YouLicense, the first online music licensing marketplace, released a product update last week detailing the launch of Private Label, a new service catering to YouLicense’s target customer base comprising of independent labels and enterprising artists. Private Label is essentially a branded storefront, specifically developed for the streamlined procurement of synchronization and master use music licenses. This is a major turning point for YouLicense which, until now, has very much operated as a destination site and, arguably, the only standalone open marketplace for music licensing. The company has already converted noteworthy distributors and labels including INgrooves, Big Fish Media, AWAL, MBop Digital, Dashgo, and Cyberset Records. Private Label is currently in closed beta but interested parties can request an invitation here.
SoundReef, currently in closed beta, has come up with an interesting angle in a very lucrative ‘indie’ music licensing market which YouLicense.com is competing in and PumpAudio ? acquired by Getty Images in 2007 for $42 million ? has already won a tidy share of. Offering online music licensing solutions for independent artists and small companies, SoundReef hopes to encourage new business by making it possible for clients seeking music for commercial use to license music by compensating the artist (or copyright administrator) with promotional effort. What a clever idea! As most commercial use of music is small-scheme with zero-budget, music buyers now have an alternative currency to barter with and it just so happens to be the most valuable commodity of all for bootstrapping artists: Exposure. Let’s see how this venture kicks off.
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