Tag Archives: Music Licensing

Classical Music in The King’s Speech

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Last year’s Academy Award for Best Picture, The King’s Speech, tells the story of how King George VI, who was never intended to be king, overcomes a debilitating speech impediment in order to better rule England during the perilous years of the 2nd World War.

The movie’s climatic scene, where King George successfully delivers a national radio address on the brink of World War 2 was set to the second movement of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. The piece starts softly and slowly and gradually builds to a dramatic, full orchestral finale. The entire movement is propelled by a an unrelenting ostinato rhythm that gains in force taking on an almost frenzied tone by the movement’s end.

Because the movie is a historical drama, it lends itself well to a classical music soundtrack. The story revolves around the English Royal Family. The music lends itself well to the regal atmosphere in the film.

This is one of the things classical music underscore does well. It can add a refined, even divine, beauty to a scene. Classical music is quite versatile as soundtrack but I hear it mostly used to underscore serious positive emotions like glory, bravery, eloquence, refinement.

There are exceptions however. Clockwork Orange is one, where extreme violence occurs against a soundtrack of (mostly) Beethoven’s orchestral music. Here the music creates a type of absurd burlesque, making a sarcastic societal comment on violence.

Terrence Malik’s new film The Tree of Life relies only on a classical music soundtrack as well. It makes sense, Malik’s storytelling is poetic and non-linear and attempts to bring a special type of beauty to filmmaking. The film zones in from theological and cosmological musings to capture the smallest human gestures.

French Canadian filmmaker André Forcier makes great use of Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King in his film Je Me Souviens. This track was licensed from the UniqueTracks Production Music Library. You can hear it used in the film’s trailer.

Because the classical music recordings in the UniqueTracks library use authentic symphony orchestras, the tracks have a genuine, unsynthesized sound. UniqueTracks can license every movement of Beethoven’s 9 symphonies. including the popular Ode to Joy, the Choral finale from the 9th Symphony. We have Bach’s greatest titles as well as several full Tchaikovsky ballets.

UniqueTracks licenses royalty free music, sound effects and animated stock footage to media producers who, in turn, integrate the media into their DVDs, videos, podcasts, radio and TV advertising, Flash and Powerpoint presentations and music-on-hold programming.

Music Licensing Tips – Royalty Free Music Explained

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This great article by Berklee College Of Music Alumnus Aaron Davison describes many of the confusions and problems that orbit around the term royalty free music.
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Music Licensing Tips – Royalty Free Music Explained

There seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding the term “royalty free” music as it applies to the music licensing industry. Some believe that this means there is no cost at all associated with the music in question, which is not the case. Others believe that the music being licensed under this arrangement is “copyright free”, which is also not true. Different libraries will offer different types of deals and the agreements will vary to a certain degree, however, as a general rule of thumb, ¨royalty free¨ music simply means that the end user has purchased a “lifetime synchronization license” for a given song or group of songs. In other words, they have the right to synchronize your music with your audio and/or video productions an unlimited number of times without incurring any additional expense.

There are other types of production music licenses, these include “Needle Drop” licensing where the user pays a fee each time they synchronize a piece of music, and “Blanket Licensing” where the user essentially leases a group of music or CDs, and is able to use the music for a specified set of uses during the duration of the lease (typically a one, two, or three year commitment). Each of these licenses are actually more like renting the music than buying. While the end users don´t actually own the music with a buyout (royalty free) library, they do own a lifetime license to synchronize your music with their productions.

The other big misconception about royalty free music is that the creators of the music don’t receive performance royalties. Television broadcasters pay annual royalties to the Performing Rights Societies for the right to broadcast music on their shows. When music is broadcast on television or cable TV, it is tracked by something called a Cue Sheet. This is precisely where the term Royalty Free does NOT apply and can be easily misconstrued. Cue sheets determine where the royalties previously paid by the broadcaster get distributed. There are no costs associated with cue sheets and most Royalty Free music libraries require that cue sheets be properly filled out when the music is for broadcast use. A cue sheet is a paper trail that ensures writers get paid what is due to them out of the money that has been previously paid by the television stations and broadcasting entities.

In conclusion, a “Royalty Free” license means that the end user does not continually pay a “synchronization royalty” each time they use a given piece of music and instead only pay a one time fee upfront. It does NOT mean that the writer will not receive the performance royalty, or broadcast royalty, due him or her when his music is aired. This royalty has already been paid in advance by the broadcaster and should be distributed appropriately through the filling out and submission of cue sheets.
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Aaron Davison is a Berklee College Of Music Alumnus who has been working in the music business for over ten years. His songs have been heard on a variety of television shows and he has performed live throughout the world. Visit Aaron’s website, http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com, for more information on getting your songs placed in TV and Film.
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Should UniqueTracks license more contemporary vocal music as royalty free music?

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We’d like your opinion about whether to expand our production music library to include more contemporary vocal music. This new offering would be mainly singer/songwriters who are looking to place their music as soundtrack in film/video productions.

If you are experienced with the indie music found on sites like myspace then you will have a sense of the type of music we would start to include in the library.

Most of UniqueTracks’ contemporary music offerings are instrumental only. Instrumental music works very well as soundtrack because there are no words to conflict with the marketing or plot messages being targeted by the production.

UniqueTracks licenses quite a lot of classical vocal music – opera arias, sacred oratorios, etc. – but when it comes to contemporary music, we really don’t have a lot of music in the library. We have several songs that include short vocal phrases but not many of the typical verse, chorus, verse-type of songs.

Please let us know if you would like to see more contemporary vocal (pop music) tracks. Please answer the poll question below or leave us a comment. Thanks!

Should UniqueTracks pursue more Pop vocal recordings for soundtrack licensing?

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ESPN’s copyright clearance gaffe

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I’ve been writing about music clearance but the act of getting the legal permissions to use copyrighted content in your production applies not just to musical works but to art and literary works as well. Not taking the time to get the appropriate licensing can land you in legal trouble as ESPN has just found out.

Last year ESPN broadcast “The Bronx Is Burning”, a popular TV series created by their in-house production company ESPN Original Entertainment. The series portrayed the background events leading to the 1977 New York Yankees dramatic World Series run.

Included in the second episode, “Team In Turmoil“, was a full screen shot of Norman Rockwell’s painting “Bottom of the Sixth“. The painting depicts three umpires looking skyward as raindrops begin to fall. It is a classic Rockwell capturing a unique and wonderful baseball moment. The original painting hangs in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

On May 3rd, the Associated Press reported that ESPN is being sued by Curtis Publishing Company, the owner of the Rockwell painting, for using the image without obtaining a license.

Curtis sent an e-mail to ESPN lawyers notifying them that ESPN did not have a license to use the painting and was committing willful copyright infringement, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit seeks to bar ESPN from rebroadcasting the series until it withdraws use of the painting. In other words, until it removes any footage of the painting from the episode.

Compounding the problem for ESPN is that The Bronx Is Burning has been sold on DVD and VHS format. Recalling the unsold copies and destroying them and having to issue a new movie with the infringement removed will prove costly for the cable network.

Music Clearance and Music Licensing

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The latest issue of UniqueTracks’ newsletter features an article I wrote that defines Music Clearance – the act of getting the permissions necessary to use music in your production. It also recommends some companies that will handle your music clearance problems when attempting to license a famous or even an obscure recording.

All Clear?
Music Clearance and Music Licensing

Every few weeks or so I’ll get a phone call with an inquiry that goes something like this…

I’d like to use Elvis Presley’s recording of ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ in my film. Can you help me do that?

Regretfully, beyond recommending some other companies to investigate, I am not much help in this regard. Though licensing music is our core business, UniqueTracks only licenses recordings that we have created in-house or that we control the publishing rights to. 

What these folks are looking for is a firm that will do “music clearance” work for them.  Yes, there are companies you can turn to when you are looking to obtain music licensing rights but have no idea where to turn.  These companies will help you acquire the rights to use famous songs but they are even better at finding the rights for obscure songs. Music clearance companies are experts at finding the needle-in-the-haystack information that will eventually track down the song you’re interested in.  They will then act as your advocate with the publisher and record company to try and get you the best pricing available.

Read the complete article.

Subscribe to the newsletter – Underscore Secrets of Successful Soundtracks

On or Off Target with Hello Good Buy? – Poll

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Target Corporation has been using the Beatles classic Hello Goodbye in its recent TV advertising. One spot aired during last Sunday’s Grammy Awards broadcast. They have changed the word Goodbye to Good Buy morphing the song’s refrain into an ad slogan “Hello Good Buy, Hello Good Buy, Hello Good Buy….” The campaign is “Say Hello to Good Buys at Target”.

Hello Goodbye is a song from the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour album and was a number 1 hit for the Beatles in both the US and UK in 1967.

Licensing classic songs is attractive to advertisers (those with deep enough pockets) because they can then begin to trade on the cultural significance of the song. Hello Goodbye is part of the soundtrack for a whole generation (or more). By licensing the song, advertisers leverage this collective, accumulated experience channelling it to sell merchandise. But does our culture (do we) pay a price for this?

How does hearing a classic song like the Beatles' Hello Goodbye
as soundtrack in a TV commercial affect you?

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There are several spots using Hello Goodbye. Each has a different musical style or arrangement. Here is one version taken from YouTube.

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Swiff it good – the music industry in chaos

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  • Devo re-records their biggest hit “Whip it good” as “Swiff it good” in a TV ad for the floor cleaner Swiffer.
  • The Beatles song “All you need is love” is licensed by Luvs who use it for their campaign, “All You Need is Luvs”
  • “Blister In the Sun ” by the Violent Femmes, a seminal punk bank, is used in an ad campaign for Wendy’s hamburgers.
  • This summer Wilco licenses 6 songs from their new album Blue Sky Blue to Volkswagen who use all 6 songs in ad spots for their latest campaign marking the first time a multitude of songs by one artist/band is used in a single campaign.

Where is today’s cash cow for the music business? It’s the placing of famous or upcoming pop songs in TV commercials. We’ve all heard and seen these ads. Led Zepplin’s “Rock’n Roll” has become the main branding vehicle (no pun) for Cadillac. The ad speaks to those 40-year-olds that can now afford Cadillacs by co-opting an anthem from their youth.

There’s no doubt the trend will continue. Commercial jingles are a thing of the past. Today’s ad strategy is about branding. You put a product, no matter how bland, next to a song that has some “coolness” factor to it, or, in the case of the Beatles “All You Need is Love”, acknowledged cultural value, and voila, the product achieves instant significance or even hipness.

But by glorifying a product, no matter how banal, the song is immediately devalued. If today’s protest song can be tomorrow’s theme for toilet tissue, then the power of a song to effect culture becomes weakened. The power of the song becomes about how much money it commands when it is licensed for commercial use.

The Culture Is the Commercial

Jay Babcock, the publisher of the art and music magazine Arthur makes this point…

“What kind of culture sets up a system where the only way to hear good music is through TV commercials for products you don’t need?” Babcock said. “What little art is out there has to sneak in wherever it can, being stand-ins for jingles. It’s the sign of an unhealthy culture. The culture is eating itself.”

A recent New York Post article reports that the recording artist Fergie recently inked a $4-million deal to sing about Candie’s teen apparel on her next album. “The 32-year-old Black Eyed Peas singer is the first global star to consent to product placement in her songs – agreeing to include the provocative clothing line Candie’s in her lyrics.”

I don’t know that this matters to some bands, they are living in a music business that is sinking into chaos by the day and they are looking for cash, a reward for their work. When Wilco, a major act, licenses 6 songs to Volkswagen saying they are doing it as a way to get their music out there, you know the music business has drastically changed and these artists are looking for the type of payday that used to be available to successful bands through albums/radio play/touring. That old model of success is, apparently, broken.

According to Greg Lane, senior vice president of ad agency GSD&M in Austin, Texas, ad pop it is a mutually beneficial relationship. “It’s a marriage of two brands. It’s the client’s brand, be it AT&T or iPod, as well as the brand of the band itself,” Lane said.

“Part of the deal is, you’re never going to make everyone happy. And there’s no such thing as bad press. Even if fans are upset, it might not affect sales of what’s being advertised “it might increase sales.”

The artist does pay a price for dealing in “ad pop”. Their fan base can get turned off and look for music elsewhere.

As the respected musician Tom Waits says “By turning a great song into a jingle, advertisers have achieved the ultimate: a meaningless product has now been injected with your meaningful memory of a song,” he said. “The songs and the artists who have created them have power and cultural value, that’s why advertisers pay out millions for them. Once you have taken the cash, you, your song and your audience are forever married to the product.”


Wilco song in Volkswagen commercial


Of Montreal song “Wraith Pinned To The Mist And Other Games” re-recorded with the words changed to “Let’s go Outback tonight” for Outback Steakhouse

More on this subject…
The Pop Song In Advertising

Where have all the jingles gone?

Royalty free music licensing questions

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Some licensing questions that have come up lately….

Q: The ownership rights to a product I have developed using UniqueTracks music are being bought-out by another company. How is the music licensing affected? Is the UniqueTracks music license transferred with all ownership rights for the product?

A: No, not immediately. In order for the company that is buying out your product to have full rights to the UniqueTracks soundtrack used within, they too will have to purchase a license for the specific tracks.

Q: I am a freelance designer and I’m creating a Flash production for a client. How does your license agreement work when the music I choose becomes part of the client’s production?

A: The company that ends up owning the project should be the licensee for any tracks you choose from the UniqueTracks Production Music Library.

Tip: If are a freelance designer, you can use the “Bill to” address for the company address (the owner of the project) and use the “Ship to” address for your address when purchasing music online from our website.

Did you know we can provide free low-resolution preview tracks for your presentation to the client if you require it. Upon approval by the client, you can then purchase the licensing and the full-resolution tracks.

Why I dislike the term “royalty free music”

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I’ve written an article for our September newsletter describing the reasons why I dislike the term “royalty free music” even though this is the main search phrase that brings new visitors to our site. My reasons mostly have to do with the general confusion about what this term means and the fact that in some cases, TV broadcast being one of them, “royalty free” usage is not at all accurate.

Read complete article

The UniqueTracks license agreement gives very wide usage rights. This article attempts to provide a more accurate description of what production music libraries like UniqueTracks actually provide, namely, quick and easy, one-stop music licensing.

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Avoiding DVD Replication delays

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Often when you finally arrive at the manufacturing/replicating stage of your DVD project, the replication company will request a copy of your license(s) showing that you have obtained the necessary legal permissions needed to use the material in your DVD that was not specifically created by you (or your company).

Remember…
If you’re using someone else’s copyrighted material, you must get permission to use it from the copyright owner.

The manufacturer/replicator wants to see that you are not violating any copyright laws and they, therefore, are not duplicating something that is illegal.

When you purchase music from UniqueTracks, you receive a copy of our license agreement with your master tracks. This is the legal permission the DVD Replication company wants to see. Just show the license agreement and if they request it, a copy of your UniqueTracks invoice, and that should suffice.

Please note: We also will fax or email any additional documents a DVD manufacturer/replicator may need to proceed with your job. Best to contact us in advance of your replication so that any problems can be avoided.

The UniqueTracks License Agreement.