How to license a music soundtrack

Placing great music in your film can really benefit the overall effect on the audience. Just make sure you take the right steps in licensing the rights because copyright infringment is a serious penalty.

Things You'll Need

• Computer, fax machine

Instructions

1. 

   While placing different tracks in your movie, go out on a limb and place your favorite songs in order to make what is called a "temp track."

2. 

   Now that you have focused in on what you are looking for and you have an idea about what kind of budget you are working with, start replacing songs with ones that are more in your price range. This is a hard step and you may need to find an experienced music supervisor via posting ads or different websites. One website in particular that has databased a large number of music supervisors and composers by music genre, experience, and other characteristics is "The Bank" at www.superviseandscore.com. Music supervisors can help you determine what kind and how many tracks you can afford to license. Mind you one individual song can cost more than $100,000 so be smart and reasonable about your decisions.

3. 

   Once you have chosen your tracks you will need to acquire both sync rights from the publishing company and master rights from the record label. Finding these representatives can be no easy task and therefore having a supervisor with these contacts can be integral and time efficient.

4. 

   You will need to talk to these people initially via telephone and then fax them license requests with all of the necessary information including length of use, use of song, scene description, festival use, national distribution use and so on. The representatives will tell you exactly what they need from you.

5. 

   If your request is approved you will receive your request with a stamp of approval via fax. Now you must send them a letter of intent with the necessary payment. They will in turn mail you two blank licenses.

6. 

   You should receive licenses from both the publishing side and the label. Be sure to read through the licenses carefully and that the terms you've negotiated are represented. You will most likely have to sign both copiesand mail them back. One will be returned to you via mail with the representatives signature.

Tips & Warnings

• If it is in your budget, try and clear as many type of usage on the first go around. Otherwise, if you sell your film and have only obtained festival rights for your soundtrack then you will have to return to the labels and publishing and acquire national/international distribution rights.

• Look for younger indy bands that have not been signed to save yourself the hassle of all the paperwork that comes with the bigger companies.

• Due to the fact that this process is so bureaucratic make sure to give yourself a few months to get it all done.