The Top 5 Biggest Mistakes To Make When Clearing Music For Licensing

The Top 5 Biggest Mistakes To Make When Clearing Music For Licensing

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The Top 5 Biggest Mistakes To Make When Clearing Music For Licensing

By: Chris Rucks | Music Dealers

There are various aspects to music licensing that can get pretty complex, pretty quickly. Among these is music clearance, essentially the process of locating the owners of a song and obtaining permission from them to license their music in your project. It’s wise to approach the clearance of a song with some important ideas in mind. So, we’ve compiled a list of a few of the most common pitfalls to avoid when clearing music for licensing.

#5 - Assuming you can’t be successful if you can’t license that particular song
Is there a better selection? Do you have to use the song your boss suggested because her 14 year old daughter thinks it’s “omg, like, so good.” You’re about to do a lot of work (and probably spend a good chunk of change if it’s Top 40 radio) for a song that may not be the best selection.

What’s the motivation for using the song? Does it fit perfectly with the project like peanut butter and jelly? Is your song selection formulaic? Is there a better selection? A cheaper selection? A selection that will resonate with your intended audience to a greater degree? Omg, like, maybe!

#4 - Not giving yourself enough time
It’s wise to give yourself ample time for both the necessary research and the time that goes into contacting copyright holders.

It’s Monday and your boss is struck by a “eureka” moment. He comes barreling down the hallway into your office. He enthusiastically insists upon licensing an incredibly popular song by:

• a band with seven writers and seven publishers

• a band that has since fallen out and hates each other’s guts

• a band that hates the record label and compromising on the fee for both sides will be a nightmare

• a band with two writers in dire financial straits, drooling at the possibility of milking you for every red cent you’ve got

When you’re informed that you’ll need that by Friday, the hairs on the back of your neck will stand up straight as you contort your face into a counterfeit smile. Gather your things, head to the elevator, proceed to the bar downstairs, order whiskey and coke, two cubes. You got a lot of voicemails to leave and you’re about to have some fun. Make sure you’re giving yourself ample time when clearing a license. Some situations will be infinitely more simple than others, for example, a label who also owns the master and the publishing and is ready to license their artists with no problems. However, more complex situations, like the example above, require much more work.

The depth of your relationships with rights holders plays a crucial factor in the process. It’s easy to call a large publisher you’ve already dealt with and close a deal a little more quickly, as opposed to just beginning the relationship and having to get up to speed.

#3 - Leaving out a rights holder
“Oh you only need to get in contact with the majority of the publishing/writers of the song. Don’t worry, we’ve got most of them.” [Insert wrong answer buzzer sound] Wrong.

God only knows how many lawsuits have developed from this tiny misconception. My friend, you will need to get in touch with, and obtain permission from, each and every member who has ownership in that composition.

That goes for the big name writers and publishers, as well as the manager’s grandson who’s inherited two percent of the song. If you forget the grandson, guess what? Potential lawsuit city.

#2 - Not having realistic expectations
“Well I only have 5k, but I want this Beatles song in perpetuity for broadcast ads.” Wrong. If you want a popular/well-known song, you’re going to pay for it, there’s no way around it.

Set your limits, know what your budget is, and manage your expectations. This is someone’s work of art, and if it’s well-known, the copyright is a valuable entity. Be aware and be warned.

You wouldn’t go try and buy a house in a nice neighborhood for $1000, the real estate agent would laugh you out of the building. Same thing goes for a song clearance.

#1 - Getting insufficient rights
There’s nothing worse than doing all of the clearance work, getting your $300 an hour lawyer to draft/review licensing agreements, forking over your budget, syncing then releasing that project, only to be flattened by a thick wall of regret (another wall of financial repercussions lands on top of the first wall) because you’ve acquired the wrong rights.

Let’s say that you’re a filmmaker only securing the rights for the use of the song in the US while completely ignoring a clearance worldwide. You may not have a ton of cash at the time, your concern is getting the cheapest price you can, or you may not be aware at all. A year later, you want to release globally. You discover what your contract says and head back to the publisher to expand your music rights worldwide, and they want to hang you upside down and shake the money from your pockets.

It’s good to understand what the ramifications of obtaining certain rights are and, in this scenario, what potential options you have to get the rights that you need. (Maybe you ask the publisher of the song if a step-deal would be an option—you can get the rights you need by appealing to that individual’s hope of earning future cash. At the end of the day, these guys are in it to make money. And there are ways to finesse the situation so you can get the rights you need and avoid costly and/or prohibitive circumstances in the future.)

We’ve seen countless examples of studios and companies unknowingly restricting their music use only to pay dearly in the long run. Make sure you know what you need, cover your back for usage that you can’t anticipate in the future, and manage short term goals/budget with long term licensing expectations.

All in all, if you’ve got the basics down, you’re in a much better position to clear the music you need. But it’s the details and time investment that trips up quite a few professionals interested in music clearance. So, watch out for those nitty gritty details. It’s deep within the shadows of the details that lawsuits like to hide and wait, then spring out when you least suspect. You don’t want anything springing out of a contract, regardless of what line of business you’re in.

Related articles

• The Top 5 Biggest Mistakes To Make When Clearing Music For Licensing (hypebot.com)
• The Day The Music Dies: What's Really At Stake When Licensing Music (musicthinktank.com)
• What Is a Music Master License? (music.answers.com)
• Q&A: How Music Supervisors License Music (hypebot.com)
• FREE Music Licensing for Film (statuteofryanne.wordpress.com)

6 Income Stream To Become A Full-Time Musician

6 Income Streams To Become A Full-Time Musician [INFOGRAPHIC] and more...

6 Income Streams To Become A Full-Time Musician [INFOGRAPHIC]

The Seattle Office of Film + Music took a look at the annual revenue of up-and-coming fulltime local musicians and how they do it. Three musicians, each from different genres, opened up their 2012 financial records. "It was important for us to find musicians who modeled a middle class living," said James Keblas, the Director for the Office of Film + Music. "We are trying to show that this kind of a living can be done without having to be rockstar."

Top 6 Musician Income Streams & Infographic

From the financial analysis, six primary areas were identified which bring most musicians income. While the percentages varied, the categories held true. The musicians also shared tips on how to find success in each category:

1. Licensing and Publishing - Companies, TV, Film, Commercials buy your music. Tip: Send out a monthly digital newsletter of your music to music supervisors with new songs ready for licensing.

2. Music Sales - CDs, downloads, streaming. Tip: You and your fans give away one free song on social media platforms to hook folks to buy more songs.

3. Merchandise Sales - T-Shirts, branded band-aids, condoms. Tip: You will increase merchandise sales by over 50% if you're sitting at the table where the goods are being sold.

4. Live Performances - Concerts and touring. Tip: Don't dismiss the earning potential of busking. Musicians at Sea-Tac Airport and the Pike Place Market are averaging over $100/hour in tips.

5. Studio Work - Film & video game music, back up musician. Tip: Make friends with people in the tech world who need music scored for game or app development.

6. Instruction - Teach others music. Tip: Do group lessons and get the biggest paycheck for your time.

click on image to enlarge

The take away for Keblas from this research?

"It's clear that if you want to make it as a musician, you need to have a business strategy for a majority of these revenue streams, if not all of them. No one said it was easy, but if you have the musical skills and the perseverance, you can do it."

Related articles

• 6 Income Streams To Become A Full-Time Musician [INFOGRAPHIC] (hypebot.com)
• This Is a Real Job! How Three Seattle Musicians Are Making It on Music Alone (pianistreview.wordpress.com)
• 6 Things Musicians Should Know That They Don't Teach You in Music School (djduece.wordpress.com)
• Making Money: What Is Distribution? (music.answers.com)

This Week In Music Publishing

This Week In Music Publishing

The Week In Music Publishing 2.3.12 – hypebot

The Week In Music Publishing 2.3.12

The new definition of publishing for the internet.

I was reading this article about publishing from Ian Rogers. About publishing and what it really means it todays digital world. Ian Rogers is CEO Topspin, he had broken it down, to the point where you might have to wonder if Publishing in the digital world, the same as it is in the real world?


Ian Rogers On Publishing, Trusted Sources & Connecting Content With Audience



 This guest post comes from Topspin CEO Ian Rogers who blogs at Fistfulayen.

I encourage you to spend some time with Cory Doctorow’s thoughtful piece from The Guardian re: the changing role of publishing in hopes it will cause you to consider what publishing really was, and what it might become. Cory mentions “publishing” as it was defined for him more than ten years ago:

Once in a while, someone will say something that’s so self-evidently true, and so unexpected, that you’ll spend the rest of your life working through its implications. For me, one such truth is “A publisher makes a work public, it connects a work and an audience”, and the person who said it is my editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden, senior editor at Tor Books, the largest science fiction publisher in the world.

He discusses how, because of the reality of the atom-based pre-digital world, “publishing” used to including “manufacturing” and “distributing” by default. The fact a book existed on the shelf meant it had passed through gatekeepers who thought enough of it to edit, print, and ship it somewhere. But, as Cory points out, while those were necessary steps, they were just part of what it means to connect a work to an audience.

In today’s world manufacturing and “distribution” can both happen without making any connection at all to an audience. I can easily upload a video to YouTube or a song I just made in iPad Garage Band (<3) to Soundcloud, but have I published it under the definition above? I’d argue no, the act of making something available no longer says anything about its likelihood to find an audience. It’s not until someone picks up that video or song and places it in the stream of consumer attention is it “published”.

I’ve been trying to pay attention to the path things take as they move from unknown to known. There are more “publishers” than ever and no longer do a few gatekeepers decide what can find any audience. That channels and technology now allow for the viral spread of content and ideas is undeniable. It’s not hard to think of videos which have gone from an inexpensive hand-held device straight into your home simply because a friend thought it was funny. But while content with exceptionally broad appeal may find a quick viral spike, there’s a difficult road for something more sublimely enjoyable, a piece of music which takes a nudge from a friend and a couple of listens to appreciate the depth and begin enjoying (my favorite kind). For those we need trusted sources, and I believe those trusted sources become increasingly important and influential as our number of options increases. In this way it feels as if those formerly thought of as critics or filters might become the true “publishers”, the ones who connect content with audience.

Funny, I’m about to hit “Publish” on this blog post in WordPress. Perhaps they need to change that verb. It isn’t until Feedburner drops this in your inbox or Hootsuite sends my scheduled tweet or you re-Tweet or post to your Facebook wall that it is actually connecting with an audience and therefore published, right?