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score licensing, exclusive, etc

C

chlsy8

I am having a musician to write score for my feature and he is asking about licensing agreement, non exclusive or exclusive, etc.

Is there an extra licensing fee for this kind of agreement? What do most people do?

Thanks
 
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It depends on what you negotiate... but usually yes. Exclusive will usually cost more since s/he is unable to sell the work again.

There may be a middle ground. Exclusivity for a limited period of time.

There are a lot of other permutations that you can agree to.
 
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Sweetie said:
It depends on what you negotiate... but usually yes. Exclusive will usually cost more since s/he is unable to sell the work again.

There may be a middle ground. Exclusivity for a limited period of time.

There are a lot of other permutations that you can agree to.
Click to expand...

Thanks, so this licensing fee is a separate cost from using her music?
 
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When you hire a musician, you should agree on how much you will pay them and what the terms of the exchange are before they begin working.

Non-exclusive is the cheapest kind but it takes away some of the benefits of having a composer in the first place since anyone can use the tracks they make.

Limited Exclusivity - for a period of time, is your best bet, but will cost you more since, like a previous poster said, they can't make money from their work elsewhere for an extended period, therefore you would have to pay them more to make up for it. This is often the path I take when people have a slightly bigger budget. I charge them about 40% more for 2 years exclusivity.

Exclusive into perpetuity licenses would usually be more interesting as "buy outs" in which case you'd now own the music made. This comes at an even higher price, but remember, the composer must be credited even if you buy all the rights from them, unless you agree in writing to do otherwise. A buyout would cost you anything from 500 to a few thousand dollars for a single song depending on many things, but mainly who the composer is and what they're willing to do (sell their soul?).

I hope your composer is well informed and that you don't take advantage of them if they are not. Pay them fairly and the happier they are, the better the work they'll do for your film.
 
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chlsy8 said:
Thanks, so this licensing fee is a separate cost from using her music?
Click to expand...

It *IS* the cost for using her music. You're just negotiating the terms of the usage.

Though, it sounds like you're hiring her to make a specific piece of music for you. This is usually covered under work for hire and you'd usually be the owner of the finished product. Of course, depending on any agreements that were made.
 
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Sweetie said:
Though, it sounds like you're hiring her to make a specific piece of music for you. This is usually covered under work for hire and you'd usually be the owner of the finished product. Of course, depending on any agreements that were made.
Click to expand...

Everything is negotiable, and without a "for hire" contract that is not the case. If you give someone money and they give you a license for some music they make to your specs, you're only buying the license. You'd need a pretty big budget otherwise... though if you give substantial input you could be credited as co-writer to an extent. (By "substantial input I don't mean saying "this needs to be calmer", I mean you would really need to write a melody or something)
 
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You should discuss that with the composer. This also depends on how much input you have in its creation, but is entirely subjective.
To be fair, the more rights you wish to own, the more you should pay your composer. :)

Personally, most people I have worked with were happy to have exclusive rights with the ability to distribute the music within their project and for advertising purposes. Selling the soundtrack (digital downloads etc) is a different matter and if you sell the soundtrack yourself, the composer should get a large cut since it is mostly their work, unless you agree on a buyout or on other terms.
 
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I found an agreement that on one hand it says

"The composer own 100% of music publishing rights for the score"

while on the other hand it says

"Composer shall grant Producer and its successors, assigns, and licenses the irrevocable right, privilege and authority to record, copy, sell, distribute, and perform the score subject to the terms of the Synchronization and Master Licenses supplied with this document."

what do that mean?

What if the producer owns the right of "MASTERS" while the composer owns the right of the "Score", is that possible?

Thanks!
 
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