I'd like to share what I've learned about music libraries so you can make informed decisions and avoid the costly mistakes I've made. Why You Need to License Music If you're producing videos, films, radio ads, or ''on-hold'' messages, you're probably wanting to use music to enhance your production. To stay legal and maintain a professional reputation, you can buy the rights to the music you use. It's interesting to note that the music industry has largely ignored the wedding video market...some producers use pop songs requested by their clients. Although illegal, the music industry has not aggressively pursued these infringements in copyright, possibly because the productions ''fly under the radar'' in that they don't generate significant amounts of money for the producer or reduce rights owner revenues such that they attract the attention of publishing companies. There are at least three ways you can legally use music in your productions. Music Clearance You can contract a music clearance house to buy the rights to a pop song. Typically, the older or more obscure the song, the easier it is to license although the more difficult to track down. The rights owner can refuse your request and will certainly want to know specifically how you intend to use it and exactly to what visuals it will be synced. If you want to acquire the rights to a pop song, here are some agencies that can help track down the publisher and rights holders: Harry Fox Agency http://www.harryfox.com/ (310) 698 - 6292 LA (212) 370 - 5330 NYC ASCAP http://www.ascap.com/ (213) 883 - 1000 LA (212) 621 - 6000 NYC BMI http://www.bmi.com/ If you're serious about rights, you need the book Clearance and Copyright, an invaluable book in my opinion, by lawyer Michael C. Donaldson (ISBN 1-879505-30-4). It's worth the price, believe me. There's information about music and almost anything else having to do with rights and motion pictures. One hour with a lawyer would buy several copies of this book. Contracting with Composers If you're producing videos or films for entertainment, I highly recommend you network with composers and see if there is any interest in your projects. This can be a satisfying experience when it works. The only disadvantage is that some composers may not be used to working with motion pictures and some producers may not be used to work with composers. There may be time constraints and editing decisions that affect the composition. Make sure you both know what's required before things get complicated. That said, I believe the collaboration between creative individuals can create a very powerful statement. Music Libraries If you don't want to go to all this hassle and just buy music, then libraries are for you. I believe this is especially true if money and time are important. Even for major studio feature films, not every stitch of music is commissioned. Some of the incidental background music come from music libraries you can license. There are two types of music libraries, ''Needle-Drop'' and ''Buy-Out.'' I'll briefly describe these two types and then tell you what to be aware of when you evaluate a library. Needle-Drop This term comes from the days when music libraries were distributed on vinyl records. Today, the're distributed on CD or over the web. Each time you use any portion of a song, the rights holder gets a licensing fee. The typical fee is $65 per needle-drop or ''cue.'' You can buy a ''blanket license'' that covers a single project. You can also get a contract that covers projects you produce during a period of time. You typically get to choose a fixed number of CDs from a list to create your library. The fees for contracts run into the thousands per year and have severe limitations unless you pay extra. Blanket licenses run under a thousand per project. Needle-drop music companies demand so much money because supposedly the compositions and recordings are that good. Some are worth it and some are not. You are also required to submit reports that detail which songs you used and how long the cue was for each project that includes music from the library. Buy-Out You can buy a CD and get the rights to use the songs on your projects. You typically don't have to worry about time periods or restrictions. Usually, the time periods are 99 years and the restrictions generally cover situations where large sums of money are generated by the production. The CDs cost anywhere from $10 to $150 or more. There are good values in buy out and there are real junkers. Limitations Any licensing agreement will have limits on distribution and public exhibition. For instance, a contract might allow you to broadcast your commercial on regional stations but not state-wide. Or your product can't be distributed to movie theaters or even shown at festivals. Make sure your contract covers exactly what you need, otherwise you'll wind up paying much more. What to be Aware Of What I've learned from all this will sound really simple and obvious, but I can't stress it enough: always read contracts before you sign. Make sure you aren't entering into an obligation you didn't intend to enter. Once you've signed your name, you may have a few days to correct the mistake, depending on your jurisdiction (in Texas you have three days). After that, the other party is in control. If both you and they agree to void the contract, that means they care about the relationships they build with clients. Companies that uphold the contract and refuse to release you from your obligations no matter what are in the business of making money regardless of the outcome. In this situation, you can only consider yourself having been scr*wd by both the company and yourself. Next on the list, make sure that what you agree to is exactly what you need. Read the contract carefully and make sure the rights licensed to you cover the uses you intend for your product. Check that the total price and terms are what you understood them to be. Look carefully for hidden costs. If you aren't familiar with legal wording, a lawyer can greatly help. There are organizations in the larger cities that help artists with legal issues, a way for attorneys to serve the community. In smaller towns, you may know someone who knows someone who is willing to look over a contract and advise you. Before you even start talking about the contract with the sales person, make sure you like the music. The sample CDs that companies send out are nowhere near adequate for judging the quality of the library. Make sure the company will send you a set of CDs to evaluate and make sure their listening period is adequate and flexible. Be wary of companies, like FirstCom Music, that require signed agreements and enforce strict listening periods. Tactics like this should raise a red flag in your mind: maybe their library is not worth the price. In the least, they do not trust their customers and any future dealings with the company may be unpleasant and expensive. By contrast, most other music libraries, whether needle-drop or buy-out, will send you CDs of your choice to evaluate without signed agreements (Associated Music Production). Their evaluation period may be 30 days or longer if you need it (Gene Michael Productions). Online companies let you search for songs, evaluate them, and buy them straight off their website (LicenseMusic). As with any agressive sales person, you have to wonder why they're so desparate to get your money. In most cases, they're simply trying to get money from each sales contact. But they may be afraid that you won't buy their product if you have time to think it over. They'll ''get in your face'' and keep you distracted until you sign the contract. Passive people are a potential target for this type of manipulation. Whenever you become aware that the sales person is agressive, walk away. Tell them you don't like their product. When they ask what you don't like about it, tell them you just don't like it. That's a powerful statement that's hard to debate. Be persistent if you have to. Tell them to please stop calling. You can always come back later and evaluate their product, but the odds may be good that it's a dud. My Mistake With FirstCom Music I made a mistake while shopping for production music. The salesperson at FirstCom: was very aggressive (think slick, used car sales) did not volunteer an evaluation period required a signed contract before shipping evaluation CDs If you look at the third point, you'll see my mistake. Looking back on it is painful. Please avoid the mistake I made and request evaluation CDs and then give them a thorough listen. So I'm burdened with $4,608 of liability for a music library that I rarely use...many of the compositions are out of date and at best cheesy (my opinion of course). When I test run a production, invariably I get negative feedback about the music. In general, be careful when buying anything, especially something as important to your projects as music. Another Important Resource Jay Rose is an audio engineer in Boston who writes a popular audio production column for DV magazine. His site, http://www.dplay.com, contains additional information and advice on music and music libraries for video and film production. And if I'd been clever, I'd have noticed that FirstCom Music isn't on his (large) list of available music libraries. Created: 2005-04-04 Modified: 2007-11-06 [Return to Previous Screen]