Talking Business

Know Your Rights

By Brent McCrossen

Am I Giving Up Ownership Of My Song If I License It?

Simply stated, the answer is NO. When someone licenses your song, you are in no way whatsoever giving up any part of ownership. The act of licensing simply grants the film, TV show, etc. the right to use the song in their production. All rights are still retained by you, the creator of the song.

For the most part, you can license a song as many times as you wish to as many productions that want to license it. In some cases, an advertising agency may require “exclusive use” of your song. In this case, you are usually granting the advertising agency the right to use your song for a certain period of time (the “term”) and agreeing that you will not license that song to any other production for the length of that term. When that term expires, you are again free to license it to any other production.

What Kind Of Licenses Are There?

When licensing your song to film, TV, video games, advertisers and new media, you are usually only dealing with two specific licenses: Sync and Master.

The Master Use License is the right that you grant to a production to use the “Master Recording.” The master recording is associated with any fixed recording of your song. Today that is usually attached to a CD or DAT but can still include standard tape or phonograph.

The Synchronization Right is the right you’re granting for any production to use the “composition” within the media. This applies only to the songwriter and publisher of the original song. For example, if you recorded a remake of a song by Nirvana, you’d be granting the Master License to the production but they would still need to secure the Synchronization Right from Nirvana’s publisher.

When you begin to negotiate a license, the music supervisor will discuss many types of terms that apply to the use. It is important to note that every term discussed has a value to the producer and thus adds a value to your song. In short: the more they want, the more you might be able to get for it.

With that being said, music licensing is a very competitive field. If you are an unknown artist with little history of success, you’ll have less leverage to negotiate. There are thousands of bands eager to get their music placed. In many cases, if you are demanding a high price for your song, the supervisor will easily be able to find a similar song to fit his or her need.

Like any contract, there can be a lot of confusing legal language in licensing agreements. Next month we will discuss what these terms mean and how you can use that knowledge to your advantage.

Brent McCrossen is President of Audiosocket - a music licensing agency that represents all types of music for placement in film, TV, video games, advertising and new media.