How much to pay for music?

B

Blade_Jones

I'm producing an indie DVD feature (250K budget) shot on HD. I have some publishers who have pitched songs to me that I like. These are songs by struggling or defunct bands, and licensed in perpertuity. Most of these publishers don't want to quote any prices. I feel like I'm talking to car salesmen! One company told me $500 - $1,500 depending on the song, but those prices are "negotiable". The rest of them are feeling me out, waiting for me to quote THEM a price. So does anyone know what the going rate is to license a song from a band that has been defunct for 15 - 20 years and that never got signed, but recorded a high quality demo or self released album??? Obviously there's a middle man here who has to get paid so I would expect to pay more than if I bought directly from the artist.
 
The going rate is the publisher's responsibility to know, not yours. This is an opinion, but feel free to run with it: what they don't know, you charge for. In other words, taking the middle man into consideration, if you're dealing with a defunct, unsigned 10 yr. old band with a really good song, consider who has more to gain by passing the song along to your feature - they do. Therefore, they should kiss the whole $1,500 schtick goodbye and be thankful that you're giving them an audience, and anywhere from $600 - $800. Otherwise, you're better off buying rights to songs by world-class artists. It costs more, but at least they know what to charge.
 
Speaking of the BIG artists... How kind of ballpark $$ value does it cost to license songs from major label artists and what not?

I put in a request to Sony to license "Piece of the Action" by the 1 album defunct 80's band Beau Nasty and I'm waiting to hear back. It's been a week. Still waiting.
 
for major labels, last I checked (when I was interested some songs for a film of mine), it was approximately $2000 for about 3 seconds or so, minimum.
 
Sony finally responded to my request to license the Beau Nasty song. They wanted $750 to license it JUST... I repeat JUST... for use in FESTIVALS!!!! LOL!!!!! Dream on you Sony suits! First of all this band was a 1 album wiff of hot air. 2nd of all, FESTIVALS are essentially sales pitches for movies that haven't sold yet, so WHY THE HELL would I pay $750 for ANY song???!!!! $750 is more than 1/2 of 1% of the total freakin' budget of my whole movie for Christ's sake!!!! God knows how much they want to license the song in perpetuity on DVD throughout the world. NO WONDER there's a market for unsigned or defunct band's music. I wound up licensing a great 80's band song by a band that never got signed (and that recorded in an expensive studio) for $600 in perpetuity for use on DVD, TV, etc. Sony can kiss my ass.
Most indie songs can be licensed for $500 for Hi-Def indie features... and that's the GOOD indie songs that publishers have picked out of mess of submissions that they get.
 
A great source is magnatune, http://magnatune.com, they have streamlined, affordable licensing and great bands of all kinds.

Blade_Jones said:
I'm producing an indie DVD feature (250K budget) shot on HD. I have some publishers who have pitched songs to me that I like. These are songs by struggling or defunct bands, and licensed in perpertuity. Most of these publishers don't want to quote any prices. I feel like I'm talking to car salesmen! One company told me $500 - $1,500 depending on the song, but those prices are "negotiable". The rest of them are feeling me out, waiting for me to quote THEM a price. So does anyone know what the going rate is to license a song from a band that has been defunct for 15 - 20 years and that never got signed, but recorded a high quality demo or self released album??? Obviously there's a middle man here who has to get paid so I would expect to pay more than if I bought directly from the artist.
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Ok- here's my question.

If music is in the background when filming a documentary, and there's nothing I can do to remove it, and if I delete the scene critical information is lost, and I can't afford fancy-schmancy rights for The Doors, or god knows what other bands (I still don't even know the names of half the songs in the background)...

Will anyone care if I put it online? I don't want to make a profit- just get this damn thing seen, and off my computer!!!
 
You only need to pay $40 for festivals and "art houses". If you are lucky to get the film bought then you pay more for worldwide rights, but at that stage someone has bought the film and you have the dough to pay it. $40 is definitely affordable!
Blade_Jones said:
Streamlined Yes. Affordable licensing?... NOT. At $2,357 for a song, you'd do best to deal with a publisher of indie band songs.
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A great source is magnatune, http://magnatune.com, they have streamlined, affordable licensing and great bands of all kinds.
Click to expand...

Thanks man that's very useful.

I've always worked directly with a composer for my soundtracks, but the sound track on No Place cost over $30,000. It is incredible and it makes the film sound like we spent 3 million on it, but even so, probalby too much for a film that hasn't achieved distribution

With this information and some careful use of music I could bring in a festival/showreel feature film soundtrack for under $150, which works with my current budgets.

$2,357 doesn't sound like a lot for worldwide in perpetuity, but I agree that there are always better deals to be done if you can get direct access to musicians who want he exposure more than they need the cash.
 
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Our soundtrack includes 21 original songs by independent artists across the world. We have bands from Buffalo and Hawaii ... the UK and Ohio ... Detroit and Ithaca ... and more. We started with the Tampa band Anevis who signed one song as a Limited Use Agreement (that included festival) for use in the movie and from there we used that to leverage all the other bands.

You want in? You want your music in an independent movie? Sign here.

In exchange you get: your band's name in the credits, your band's name in a press release sent out to regional and national publications, four copies of the finished film, and you're invited to all the screenings. They signed. If they didn't .... they didn't appear on the soundtrack!

All the artists were/are great to work with and I would use each and all of them again in our next movie. If we hit it big .... they hit it big and vice versa. There are SO many talented musicians out there that I wouldn't (while I make movies with a budget less than $200K) pay for music (I DO pay for the score because that's a totally different subject).
 
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