How to license my music?

N

nothingness

Member
Hi, all.
Someone emailed me that they want to use my music for their film. But I have no idea how to license my songs. Of course, I uploaded my songs on Pond5 and Songtradr, but have no idea how to license my songs by myself.
Is there a specific procedure for that? How to sell my music in this case?
Thanks in advance.
 
Assuming you don't think it worth engaging lawyers, you need to simply specify three essential things, and invoice in the usual way. You grant them a licence to use:
(enter name of recording), version (as in how you describe it) composer (as in you), recorded by (put your name here too, plus anyone else who could have had input), duration, any registration details, if you lodged it with any official licencing body - just in case they spot the use and think it unauthorised, and then where it can be used, period, and medium. If the period is effectively 'forever' then the correct word is in perpetuity. The media itself needs identifying - so nowadays there is a big difference with streaming and downloading being treated differently.

So taking one of ours, as an example,

You are granted a licence to use the track detailed below.
Title-------- Version----------------Duration--Composer------------Engineer------ISRC------------ Period-------Region--------Media
Dissolution-Instrumental version--3:04-------Paul Robert Johnson--Paul Johnson-QZFZ52140495-In Perpetuity-Any Territory-Any medium

However, I don't do in perpetuity (as in forever) any longer - I always pick a time period. 5 Years is a long time, but it does mean that after 5 years, you can market it yourself again if you want. Usually the product is dead by then, but occasionally it won't be and you can negotiate a repeat. For big companies, expect them to provide you with terms and conditions - sort of a reverse agreement which will be a proper legal document, which you can agree with or not, but they'll be the same basic headings but reversed. For small concerns it's also sensible to ask a question, or give them an option, which will generate a response - even in an email. Perhaps remove Any territory and ask them if they'd prefer to licence it specifically for their own country, or licence it for worldwide? There's no change in the price. They will respond then and you enter 'Any territory' and send it back. It would, if pushed be useful if things went sour - you'd have an evidence trail showing what they asked for and the details.

These details are enough to keep people happy, and loose enough to not tie your hands behind you.

If there was a lot of money at stake, real legal advice should be taken, but this has worked well enough for me, and is less 'threatening' for amateurs and small companies to agree to. What it is - how long can it be used - where can it be used and of course you can add money details too.

The only money issue is simply to take points, or a fee, or both? None of my music has ever earned enough for me to be grumpy about taking the set fee. 100% of something small being better than a percentage of nothing.
 
rob aylestone said:
Assuming you don't think it worth engaging lawyers, you need to simply specify three essential things, and invoice in the usual way. You grant them a licence to use:
(enter name of recording), version (as in how you describe it) composer (as in you), recorded by (put your name here too, plus anyone else who could have had input), duration, any registration details, if you lodged it with any official licencing body - just in case they spot the use and think it unauthorised, and then where it can be used, period, and medium. If the period is effectively 'forever' then the correct word is in perpetuity. The media itself needs identifying - so nowadays there is a big difference with streaming and downloading being treated differently.

So taking one of ours, as an example,

You are granted a licence to use the track detailed below.
Title-------- Version----------------Duration--Composer------------Engineer------ISRC------------ Period-------Region--------Media
Dissolution-Instrumental version--3:04-------Paul Robert Johnson--Paul Johnson-QZFZ52140495-In Perpetuity-Any Territory-Any medium

However, I don't do in perpetuity (as in forever) any longer - I always pick a time period. 5 Years is a long time, but it does mean that after 5 years, you can market it yourself again if you want. Usually the product is dead by then, but occasionally it won't be and you can negotiate a repeat. For big companies, expect them to provide you with terms and conditions - sort of a reverse agreement which will be a proper legal document, which you can agree with or not, but they'll be the same basic headings but reversed. For small concerns it's also sensible to ask a question, or give them an option, which will generate a response - even in an email. Perhaps remove Any territory and ask them if they'd prefer to licence it specifically for their own country, or licence it for worldwide? There's no change in the price. They will respond then and you enter 'Any territory' and send it back. It would, if pushed be useful if things went sour - you'd have an evidence trail showing what they asked for and the details.

These details are enough to keep people happy, and loose enough to not tie your hands behind you.

If there was a lot of money at stake, real legal advice should be taken, but this has worked well enough for me, and is less 'threatening' for amateurs and small companies to agree to. What it is - how long can it be used - where can it be used and of course you can add money details too.

The only money issue is simply to take points, or a fee, or both? None of my music has ever earned enough for me to be grumpy about taking the set fee. 100% of something small being better than a percentage of nothing.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the details. As I guessed, it's so complicated. OMG.
Btw, they got back to me and I found something fishy. They want me to pay for licensing my music. This is part of what they say:

==========================================================
We are currently seeking music for the following television series: Royalties and Licensing negotiations will be discussed once you're considered for a placement. These are all paid assignments (payouts start from $1500 per track).

New assignments come in on a weekly basis, so the workflow is steady. Many of our musicians do this full time. It's a good way to earn extra money from your music. So we encourage you to consider it.

How To Get Started: We're looking to add on a few more musicians to complete our roster (there's roughly 10 more slots available). There is a one-time registration fee of $29. [The fee will cover your registration and your catalog that'll go into our client database]. Once the fee is processed, notify us immediately. We will send you the registration form, then schedule you a conference via phone, Facetime, Zoom, or Skype to discuss details, and to answer any questions you have. We want to get your material submitted for these projects within the next few days.
We look forward to you joining our team!

Pay REGISTRATION fee here: cash.app/$SMRegistration
=============================================================

I think it's kind of scam. Have you ever heard SM Films Co?
 
Last edited:
That sounds pretty scammy.

So one of my bands licensed our first album in a similar way. (i.e. we worked with a 3rd party that negotiated contracts and technical details to get out music placed in libraries for general use by major TV companies.)

Aside from the scammy radio campaign they made us run, they charged us per media company contract. It cost $1k, but we had actual, legal contracts signed with Discovery, MTV, etc. saying that our music was available for use in their shows and that we would be paid per placement.

Our music was placed twice: ~20 seconds in one of those frantically-edited reality shows where the music changes every 20 seconds. And... the exact same 20 seconds in a different reality show with the same music supervisor. We got $150 for it. No one is syndicating "Stuarts and Hamilton", so that's all the money we are likely to ever see.

We were quoted a similar $1500 payout, but that was the max for very featured songs. (i.e. a band is portrayed playing the entire song, words and all) Saying payouts start at $1500 is very suspicious.

So assuming it's not a full-blown scam, it's probably still not worth it.
 
Just curious, how did the "someone" discover your music? If your music is on Pond 5 and Songtradr why didn't they use one of those libraries to license your music? Seems fishy that you would have to pay an upfront fee.
 
It's a scam. Pure and simple. Songtradr have a section where they look for submission for putting out to people looking for music. If they are looking for music this way, they're small, tiny or still at school.

You don't pay for people to use your music, they pay you. An agency taking finding fees off people are dodgy in the extreme.

Also keep in mind that film music is generally composed to the images. They send you timecode rough cuts, you wrote the music. Mood music - the generic stuff I produce, for example is designed without hit points and is simply mood/emotion/locational. Like Steve says - some people just want mood clips, that's not film music really. My best earner was 3 minutes of sad music for Poppy Day - got used quite a lot in the early 2000's - then died away.

There was a UK SM Films Ltd - they were dissolved but there is an SM films on Facebook, based in India. This seems more likely the people.
 
VomitHatSteve said:
That sounds pretty scammy.

So one of my bands licensed our first album in a similar way. (i.e. we worked with a 3rd party that negotiated contracts and technical details to get out music placed in libraries for general use by major TV companies.)

Aside from the scammy radio campaign they made us run, they charged us per media company contract. It cost $1k, but we had actual, legal contracts signed with Discovery, MTV, etc. saying that our music was available for use in their shows and that we would be paid per placement.

Our music was placed twice: ~20 seconds in one of those frantically-edited reality shows where the music changes every 20 seconds. And... the exact same 20 seconds in a different reality show with the same music supervisor. We got $150 for it. No one is syndicating "Stuarts and Hamilton", so that's all the money we are likely to ever see.

We were quoted a similar $1500 payout, but that was the max for very featured songs. (i.e. a band is portrayed playing the entire song, words and all) Saying payouts start at $1500 is very suspicious.

So assuming it's not a full-blown scam, it's probably still not worth it.
Click to expand...
It's interesting story. Thanks for sharing!
 
markmann said:
Just curious, how did the "someone" discover your music? If your music is on Pond 5 and Songtradr why didn't they use one of those libraries to license your music? Seems fishy that you would have to pay an upfront fee.
Click to expand...
I also was curious and asked them, and they disappeared. Haha
Btw, Pond5 is not so impressed. You will get only 30% of revenue. Last time I got paid from them, it was only $1.75. After that, I stopped uploading the song on it.
Songtradr is also suspicious. None of my songs were licensed. I researched online, and found people also talk about it.
 
rob aylestone said:
It's a scam. Pure and simple. Songtradr have a section where they look for submission for putting out to people looking for music. If they are looking for music this way, they're small, tiny or still at school.

You don't pay for people to use your music, they pay you. An agency taking finding fees off people are dodgy in the extreme.

Also keep in mind that film music is generally composed to the images. They send you timecode rough cuts, you wrote the music. Mood music - the generic stuff I produce, for example is designed without hit points and is simply mood/emotion/locational. Like Steve says - some people just want mood clips, that's not film music really. My best earner was 3 minutes of sad music for Poppy Day - got used quite a lot in the early 2000's - then died away.

There was a UK SM Films Ltd - they were dissolved but there is an SM films on Facebook, based in India. This seems more likely the people.
Click to expand...
That's what I thought exactly. But Songtradr also looks fishy.
I found SM Film on Facebook, you mentioned, and....yes, it seemed more like the people. lol
 
Songtradr have worked for me as a distributer, but none of my music has made me money through their sales. However - my music isn't that commercial? Reading back, I'm wondering how the scam agency actually got your details? Them emailing you to do music for their video really doesn't work when they then ask for money - reputable agencies would, as they have the job ion the books, just taken their cut, not asked you to pay?
 
Just put the music they want on Pond5 or Songtradr, then tell them to buy the rights through the service. That way you have things done properly/legally. If they balk they were just trying to scam you.
 
rob aylestone said:
Hang on! Music for a movie is a decent paying project, you won’t get this from songtradr!
Click to expand...
You can set the price to whatever you want (at least on Pond5 that's true, since I've used it). Mitigates risk, and if they're serious and want more he can always negotiate with them after this initial use case.
 
If it's a movie, surely the last thing you want is a deal with no negotiation, so you'd do it yourself? I doubt you'd get the usual kind of terms via an off-the shelf licencer system.
 
rob aylestone said:
If it's a movie, surely the last thing you want is a deal with no negotiation, so you'd do it yourself? I doubt you'd get the usual kind of terms via an off-the shelf licencer system.
Click to expand...
He's a nobody looking for exposure, it's not really important other than retaining rights. It's likely scammers anyway, so definitely not worth putting any extra effort into. In my naivety, I would assume 'somebodies' in the biz would have all this worked out, or worked out for them [by an agent/manager], and wouldn't be getting cold contacted in this manner.
 
I’ve made far more money from music for images than music for music. Two and a half grand for one exhibition. 3 mins repeated non stop!
 
Pinky said:
You can set the price to whatever you want (at least on Pond5 that's true, since I've used it). Mitigates risk, and if they're serious and want more he can always negotiate with them after this initial use case.
Click to expand...
Pond5 is not so impressive. They give you only 30% of the sales.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top