Top 5 Things to Know About Licensing Music For Your Film Project
Whether you are making a documentary or a feature, music helps you tap into your viewer’s emotions unlike other components of your film. The right music can help you set the proper tone of your movie. From action scenes, to romance scenes, to creating fear, music allows you to improve on if not create the exact mood you are trying to target. But getting the proper score may be more difficult than you think. Below are 5 items to consider before licensing music for your film project.
When should you bring in the composer for your film?
You should be considering the composer for your film as early as possible in the film creation process. Are you going to hire a songwriter to work with you hand and hand through the film creation? Are you planning on using a licensing firm or music supervisor? Do you plan on using a crowdsourcing platform like MusikPitch? These are items you need to decide early as composers love collaborating and will enjoy working with you as soon as possible to create the perfect musical emotion. Finally, always research some music samples beforehand and present them to your chosen composer to ensure they understand the types of sounds you are looking to achieve.
How do you find the right composer?
One way to find a composer is to look for the names of the composers from past films you’ve enjoyed. Often you can find their website or contact them on a service such as MySpace or LinkedIn. You can also attend film festivals as many composers will also be in attendance for the great networking opportunity. Another option is to ask fellow filmmakers whom they’ve worked with in the past and how it went. Be sure to ask the composers you’re considering how they like to work – how many rewrites will you get, do they want to communicate often or do they just want a copy of the film which they’ll return a few months later with a finish score, what type of licensing arrangements do they feel most comfortable using?
What kind of budget do I need for a composer?
Costs for composers working on your film can vary from $5,000 to $100,000+ depending on your music needs. Current industry standard is to have 10% of your film budget dedicated to music licensing to include licensing existing music as well as having new music composed. One item that determines the cost will be the popularity and success of the songs or composer that you’ve chosen. The lower amounts of $5,000 may get you a computer generated composition which will have a different sound and feeling as that of a live orchestrated piece that can cost you tens of thousands of dollars. Don’t stress too much as technology is increasingly making it easier to synthesize live instruments and drive down the cost to score a full feature – assuming you don’t mind using digital tracks versus live musicians and instruments. $20,000 to $30,000 can get you some great scores with live instruments and musicians assuming there are no errors or changes needed. Always remember that you must approve the final music “cues” before sending it off to get recorded live, otherwise, it can become costly if you start requiring music rewrites after final recording. Most major studio films fall in the realm of $25,000 to $50,000 for composer fees. It is possible to pay a few songwriters small fee’s ($2,500 to $5,000) to create digital compositions and then continue with the full fee if you decide to use that music.
What type of licensing options should I require?
Do you really need to own all the rights to the music in your film? Many filmmakers get confused over licensing when hiring a composer and may scare off the good ones if they start demanding too many rights to the composer’s music. The basic items you will need will be a sync license to use the music in your film. You should also consider language in the license that allows use of the song in sequels, prequels, film advertising, trailers, and co-promotions. Publishing is a large negotiable item when discussing composition of music for a film. Taking 100% of the publishing will be taking a lot of money away from the songwriter from future royalties and will raise your initial fee. Allowing the songwriter to keep 25% to 100% of the music publishing rights will allow you to negotiate a lower fee for use of the composition in your film. Another item to consider is exclusive rights versus non-exclusive rights to the music. Exclusive rights will only allow the music to be licensed to you and your film but will cost more. Some small budget films will license the composition non-exclusive for a small fee but allow the composer to keep all the rights to the music. As always it is best to consult a lawyer to ensure you cover the best options for your film composition licensing.
Do I have to pay songwriter royalties in the future?
All songwriters are entitled to receive performance royalties when their music is played publicly such as in a restaurant, on the radio, or on television. Films however, have somehow avoided paying performance royalties in the United States even though theaters are about as public as you can get. Songwriters WILL be paid for their songs played in movies overseas from those country’s performance rights organizations. No need to worry though as U.S. film studios will not have to pay these royalties. Performance royalties are paid for by the venue playing the music, whether a major television network showing the film or a small restaurant playing the soundtrack. These venues will pay the three performance rights organizations an annual fee to play all the songs in their respective catalogs, and the rights organizations then pay the songwriters. It is important however, as a filmmaker, to properly file what are called cue sheets to the performance rights organizations. This lets them know the songwriters and composers that worked on your film and how you included their music. This ensures that your composers are paid properly in the future.
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