Sheet Film
How to place your songs and music in film, TV and other media
These days, there is a great amount of good music being created and made available to the public. The internet has certainly been a great tool to that end. With all this music out there, today’s artists, songwriters and composers may feel that they are but tiny fish in a huge ocean. But there is a whole industry that exists that many people aren’t even aware of that makes this ocean a whole lot smaller.
Have you ever watched a TV show, commercial or a movie, or heard a radio commercial and wondered where the background music came from? Certainly there are scores of composers for hire who custom compose music on a per project basis. However, this can at times be too expensive for the project’s budget. As a result, there are two similar yet separate industries that exist to fill the need for pre-cleared hassle-free and inexpensive music, and each specializes in their own field.
1) Songs for Film & TV. The Pre-cleared Song industry will represent independent songs on behalf of the artist and pitch their material where appropriate. Uses include, films, TV shows and radio / television commercials. One of the places to promote your music for these uses is “museeks.com“. Not only do they offer you your own free ‘artist’ page, but they also give you the opportunity to have your songs considered for use in the film and TV industries. You can find out more information by visiting www.museeks.com and look for ‘Artist Signup’. Another great site to check to promote your songs for these uses is ‘Taxi’ at www.taxi.com
2) Instrumental “Production Music”. The Production Music industry puts together collections of instrumental music and makes it available to the film, TV, and media industry for easy, hassle free use. Uses include films, TV shows and commercials, radio spots, documentaries, corporate videos, multi-media presentations, and many others.
Songs for film, TV and commercials is a narrow niche that is extremely complicated in terms of negotiating a fee structure. Some of the considerations are as follows: Will the movie containing the song be a limited release film or will it be a general release across North America or the world? Will the video be released for sale or rent 6 months after the theater release? How many copies will be made, and in what territories will they be available? Will the film be translated into a foreign language in the future? Will it be shown as a re-run 5, 10 15 or 20 years from now on late night TV? Will it be shown on airlines as entertainment? Will the song be included on a “soundtrack CD” and sold in stores? Each of these uses has its own fee and must be itemized in the Contract, so it is best left up to people who specialize in this field to do the negotiating.
Basically, producers look for songs that are in sync with the same message that their production is trying to convey. For example, a song for a car commercial will have to project the image of freedom and independence, attitude, affluence or whatever other feelings they want you to imagine by owning that car. Similarly, songs for films or TV shows have to fit the scene where they will be used. I recently had a producer contact me who was looking for a sexy jazz vocal piece for a scene in a film where the lead actors were walking through a smoky bar. The music has to create the mood of the scene in the mind of the viewer. I have also had many requests for songs that were “positive and uplifting” without being religious. “America The Beautiful” is a prime example of this type of song.
Many people ask, “why don’t producers simply use popular songs from CD’s available in stores”? They can, but it will cost them a lot of time in securing permission as well as a considerable amount of money. (Microsoft reportedly paid The Rolling Stones seven figures to use a small snippet of their song “Start Me Up” in a TV commercial). They could even be refused permission regardless of cost. Permission would have to be sought from two different parties; the publisher (owner of the copyright in the actual music) and from the record company (owner of the copyright in the recording).
Instrumental production music is similar to the song industry except that it is easier to get music placed as there are many more opportunities available. Production music companies press CDs of instrumental music (all styles) and offer it to producers in 3 different ways:
1) Blanket License – For an annual fee, the producer has the unlimited right to use the music on a lease basis for a specified term.
2) Laserdrop License – Music is made available to the producer on a “pay-per-use” basis, and he must pay a set fee each time he uses music provided by the company.
3) Buy-Out License – The producer purchases the CD’s of production music outright, and the purchase price includes the right to unlimited use of the music forever.
In each of the above cases, the producer is still required to submit cue sheets and report usage to the appropriate performance rights society for all public performance of any production containing the music. This allows both the composer and the publisher to collect performance royalties. This reporting does not involve an additional fee to the producer.
What is “Copyright”? It is the protection given by the state (governing body of each country) to those who create intellectual property such as literary works, plays, musical compositions, etc. “Copyright” itself includes three separate and distinct rights:
1) Mechanical Rights – The right to make copies (tapes, CD’s, videos, etc) of copyrighted works. No person can make a mechanical reproduction of a copyrighted musical work without the permission of the copyright owner.
2) Synchronization Rights – The right to synchronize, re-record or utilize a musical recording in timed relation with a visual image or another sound or voice. This would include all forms of radio or TV commercials, shows, motion pictures, videos, etc.
3) Performance Rights – The right to perform musical works in public through radio, television, concert halls, restaurants and bars, background music systems (banks, grocery stores, elevators), and so on. Radio and TV stations pay an annual fee to the performance rights societies (such as BMI, ASCAP, SOCAN, PRS etc) for the right to perform music over the air. From the data that these societies receive from stations (i.e. cue sheets), the relevant composers and publishers get their appropriate shares of performing fees (residuals) which is paid out from the pool of funds collected. The performing rights societies are part of an international network of affiliates which exchange cue sheets and program information and collect and distribute performing fees to composers and publishers around the world.
What does it take to have your music considered? Here’s the Criteria:
* Your songs or instrumental music must be professionally recorded and mastered, and be of top quality.
* You must own your own Publishing, Copyright and Master Recording. In other words, you have not assigned these rights to any other person or company.
* You must have agreements/release forms with the producer, performers, studio etc that you control all rights and that they have no claim to any income that may be generated as a result of the performance or use of your song or instrumental music.
* You must acknowledge that your song or composition is completely original, and that you did not copy any part from any other source. All samples (if used in your music) must be pre-cleared and royalty-free.
I hope that this article has been beneficial in helping you to understand this segment of the music industry. If you have instrumental music that you would like to be considered for inclusion in a production music library, simply do a web search for “production music” and read each site for their submission policies.
In future articles, I will cover issues related to public domain and copyright protection.
Good Luck to all of you, and always keep faith in yourself and trust that the Universe will guide you in the right direction!
About the Author
Rick Ivanoff is the owner of Dog Star Music Publishing. Since 1976 he has been involved in the music industry as a songwriter, performer, producer, jingle writer, studio musician, publisher, promoter and licensing agent as well as dealing with the issues of Copyright Law. Visit his web sites: www.rickivanoff.com www.trytheseoffers.com www.dogstarmusic.com
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