music Questions about music clearance for film?

[MacTheMusiclerk]

If anyone has questions about clearing music for a film project or a specific issue they are having trouble finding a solution for, feel free to drop it in the comments or send me a message.

I have over 30 years experience in the music industry and work on clearance related projects for clients daily. I certainly don't claim to know everything about this niche part of the industry but I do know a lot and make a point try and learn something new everyday.

Thanks!
Mac

 

[Nate North]

Sure, I've had a question that I've been wondering about for awhile and had little luck researching. I'm interested in licensing lesser known commercial music for lower budget projects and haven't been able to find a service that can sell me relatively inexpensive licenses for a minor use scenarios. The numbers I keep hearing are between five and $25,000, And don't seem to scale for smaller projects.

Let's say I want to license this old B side from William Orbit. It never got anywhere close to the top 40, He's not a really well recognized name outside of producing Ray of light for Madonna. Youtube views for this official version of the video are about 20% of the view count a guy got for posting a blank white screen for 10 minutes.

Let's say I want to use this track in a youtube video that might make $700 Lifetime, Or an indie game that might make $50,000 lifetime but needed 30 tracks and took a year to program.

Where is the lower or middle ground for independent producers that want to license non famous tracks? It has been a while since I inquired but recent searches haven't turned up much either. How can a creative in the modern earnings environment license music tracks in a way that makes sense considering ROI?

 

[MacTheMusiclerk]

Hi Nate, thanks for the question.

In my experience, most licensing rates you will find mentioned online for well known music (including B side and lesser known music titles from well known artists/composers) is either outdated or a very broad estimate. Even worse, sometimes you find completely inaccurate information.

The best way to know exactly what current rates are for any specific music title is to request a quote and approval from all of the current rights owners of that music. This obviously requires, researching all the current rights owners, contacting all of them to confirm their percentage of ownership and then making the request for the license you are interested in.

Ultimately, the rate that rights owners typically quote for their music depends on a number of factors like...

-What media the video using the music will be released on/in like YouTube or other websites and platforms.
-How the music will be featured in the video (ex. background use, featured use).
-Where the music will appear in the video (ex. intro, key moment, end credits or outro).
-What territory the video will be released in (ex. U.S. only, North America, Worldwide).
-Will the music be used in the video for or during any sponsored or promotional use.
... and other questions rights owners typically ask about the project.

Current market rate and demand for the music title based on it's historical earnings through sync licensing is typically how rights owners value their music titles and catalogs. Public video views and streams are not usually a factor in how they value sync licensing rates in my experience. Mainly because those are two different types of rights, public performance vs sync licensing.

There are options for independent video creators to keep music licensing cost at a more affordable rate. Once you have connected with each rights owner and have received a quote, you can often negotiate the overall licensing cost by adjusting the terms and rate as needed to get it closer to your budget.

Let me know if you have any other questions or if you ever need help with all the steps I mentioned above to request quotes and approvals?

Thanks again!
Mac

 

[Nate North]

Thanks. That sounds like a pretty close match to what I'd been hearing. I'm guessing there are no reasonably priced minor music licenses or rates that scale down to practical levels.

Just out of curiosity, could you give a ballpark figure as to what it would cost an indie filmmaker to license a minor track? What's the low end? What I'm wondering about is, "is there a middle ground between 2000 tracks for 20 dollars a month license (artlist, etc), and 10,000 dollars to play 8 seconds of Johnny B Goode"

 

[MacTheMusiclerk]

Like I mentioned in my last reply, licensing rates really depend on how the music is being used in the video. With YouTube specifically, music rights owner will often scale cost for licensing a music title based on the average number of views a specific YouTube channel gets with each video they upload.

There is certainly a wide gap between any independent music you might license from an online music library vs music from a well known artist or composer that is managed by larger music publishers and record labels.

That said, it is possible to negotiate a license for well under $10k or even under $5k for use in a YouTube video. Again, different factors like the terms negotiated, how the music is used, how well the rights owners like the video or opportunity etc. are what typically dictate the licensing cost.

General ballparks for sync licensing are hard to give considering you need a lot of information (mentioned above) about the project. To give you a basic idea, I have licensed music for clients that range from $500 per side ($1k total) which is typically for a very limited use and up to $100k+ for advertisements and tv/streaming commercials.

 

[Nate North]

Thanks, I appreciate the information.