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Music Information Articles
Licensing Your Music Into Film and Television
Ron Proulx
Given the shortage of radio airplay and/or ink that an Indie Artist can generate in these media saturated times, one´s mind often wanders to more unique methods of getting the message out to the public. This is where licensing music into film and television comes in.
As a Music Supervisor for Film and TV, I spend the better part of my day acting for filmmakers in the pursuit of appropriate music to appear in their films. This music can be as wide ranging as there are types of stories, so it is safe to say that I license all kinds of music.
While we´ve all heard the stories of six figure sums being paid for the rights to use popular masters and/or songs in major films, the numbers for lesser known artists are typically much lower. Having said that, the idea of getting paid to help promote your music isn´t so bad.
My company does a fair bit of work for films that air on HBO, UPN, Showtime, and other specialty networks in America. The viewership for these films is always in the one to four million range which is a fair number of people to reach.
The questions that always come up when negotiating the use of a master and/or song are things like how much money, for what term, for what media, and for what territory. Other questions include who actually controls the right to license the master and who is the publisher of the song. When dealing with a major label or publisher, these questions can be answered fairly easily. But when dealing in the Indie sector these things can get quite tricky.
For instance, a band might perform a song that is written by one of its members. Until someone phones up to say he or she wants to pay the publisher of the song in order to license the song into a film, it may not be an issue as to where the money goes. But the moment even a few hundred dollars come into play, it is not unusual for the question of control of the song to become an issue.
As a former songwriter and artist manager who now deals with artists and managers from the other side of the fence, I am a big believer in making sure that artists who work with other artists clearly define their business relationships at the outset. You never know when someone will come calling with the offer to give you money for your work. The last thing you want to do is lose that opportunity because of debate over who controls it.
You may not get rich overnight, but you can certainly extend the global reach of your music by trying to have it licensed into Film and Television. Good Luck!
Ron Proulx, owner of Ron Proulx International, a Toronto based Music Supervision company, is the author of the book Get Your Music Into Movies and Television, a tell-all guide to the ins and outs of promoting and making money from licensing music into film and TV. To order your copy of this book, call toll-free: 1-866-288-4788 or www.rp22.com
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