Andy Lykens

Innovating and operating through growth

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Learn How A Record Label Pursues Music Licensing

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If you’re an artist or in a band, chances are you’ve got a record out. Maybe you put it out yourself, maybe you’re signed to a small indie label, or maybe you landed a major deal with a nice advance from one of the bigger guys. The bottom line is you have a record.

But what exactly does that entail, and what does your label have to do with music licensing?

One of the basic elements of how music licensing works is the copyright for the sound recording. Just like the song you wrote, the actual sound recording has copyright protection as well. Typically sound recordings have only one owner.

A sound recording is often owned by the funders of the album.

That could be a record label, your band, a single member of your band, and less commonly a music publisher or company that had you create a work-for-hire…or your Aunt Mildred.

Ownership comes with responsibilities (ask Spiderman) and while a record label’s aims are more than just licensing your music on television or getting music in a commercial, it’s a valuable revenue stream and that’s what we’ll focus on here.

Here are some ways that your label (or you) can go about getting that recording licensed:

  • Direct Outreach – Market directly to music supervisors on TV shows, ad agency music producers, and other relevant contacts
  • Indirect Outreach – Create PR around your music by revealing a story through video, press release, or other media hoping the buzz brings you to the forefront of new music
  • Public Performance – Whether it be a tour around a region or playing at a branded event or for an ad agency’s happy hour, this can be an excellent venue to get your music heard and your charisma felt

Should your song achieve some traction and a license be requested, the label (or owner of the sound recording) will then be responsible for licensing the sound recording for use. They should be able to negotiate some standard terms and collect a ‘music synchronization fee’ (or ‘sync fee’) for the use of the sound recording.

If you own your masters or perhaps your band owns them collectively, you can get your music licensed with your own efforts. You can also seek representation by labels, publishers, and synchronization representatives in exclusive and non-exclusive agreements.

Do you have any experience with a record label and licensing your music? Leave a comment and let us know about it!

If you want to learn how to start building relationships with record labels for music placements, subscribe to my newsletter.

How To Determine The Value Of Music Licensing Exposure On MTV

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This post was originally published via my newsletter, where my newest material always gets sent months before it appears on this blog. Click here to subscribe to my music licensing newsletter.

Musicians are often asked to trade dollars for ears and told how great the exposure will be. Whether it be a live performance, a synchronization usage, or simply giving away CDs at a gig you will constantly be confronted with opportunity paid only by a promised quantity of listeners.

What’s interesting about this predicament is how set most people are in giving their opinion. You’ll hear things from “never play for free!” to “give it all away!” In the end, it boils down to a simple choice – but these choices are often made under pressure or time constraints.

It’s key to think about these sorts of business decisions before they even arise. This way you can be equipped to answer them under pressure, or at least know enough to ask the right questions. In this way, you’ll have enough information to make the right choice for you.

So how do we value exposure?

Well, it goes back to a bunch of other topics I’ve written on – specifically goal setting. If you have your key goals in mind you’ll be able to make the most of ‘exposure’ opportunities.

Let’s take a look at just one instance of value vs. exposure on TV

Many placement companies will make a list of placements and a lot of the shows on that list will be MTV. Have you watched an MTV show recently? How many songs get played during any given show? How are you to differentiate one song from the next?

Generally MTV pays very, very little money for the music they use (sometimes they pay nothing at all) but then touts how great it is to get music on MTV and they put a track list up on a website after the program airs.

This CAN be good exposure but think about this:

If a potential new fan is watching television and hears a new song they like, will they go through the process to seek it out online, listen through the various songs used in the episode, find the song, google the band, and go to their website to sign up for their mailing list or go to iTunes to download their song?

The answer is – they might! But this is a long and fairly tedious process to acquire a single song that they’ll most likely forget about if they don’t IMMEDIATELY take action upon hearing it on the show. Yikes!

Now look, I’m not saying to not take a placement on MTV, but what I am saying is you need to consider what you might get out of it. So let’s give it a try, shall we?

I went on the MTV website and here was my process:

  1. Go to MTV.com
  2. Find the show I pretended I was watching (in this case I just chose 16 and Pregnant – nice’n’wholesome).
  3. Here’s what I immediately see:

  4. I’m not sure which song it was, so I’ve got to try and nail it down by clicking on each artist (I’m pretending it wasn’t the ‘feature’ song).
  5. Alright, now I see the following:
  6. After listening through the track list, I finally find the song I liked. My options are to buy it (on Rhapsody!), or check out the info and bio for the artist. Here’s what I see for the artist page:
  7. The artist page is a joke. No link to the artist website, no bio, so now if I want to find out more about the artist, live dates, or if the artist is trying to funnel me to their mailing list I’d have to specifically google her and hopefully she’ll show up and I’ll be pointed in the right direction. And finally, buying the track from Rhapsody? Are you serious? When you think of where to buy digital music, is Rhapsody the first name that pops into your head?

Sheesh – lots of work involved for the fan. How many opportunities does a new listener have to get fed up or bored with this process before they find your song? Furthermore, I did this on a laptop, what if the person is using an iPad or an iPhone? How great is this ‘exposure’? What kinds of questions might you ask if you’re given a proposition like this one?

Remember: have your specific goals in mind, weigh the opportunity as carefully as time allows, and do your homework BEFORE the situation arises!

If you’ve licensed a song on MTV yourself or through a service, I’d love to hear about that experience and how it turned out for you. Leave a note in the comments and fill other readers in on your experience!

Learn About Music Licensing And Why Getting Music On TV Can Be Valuable

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Music licensing is something record labels, music publishers, artists, songwriters, and pretty much everyone who survives in music is focused on. Music licensing, or more specifically music synchronization licensing, simply means the fixing of music to moving picture.

(Other types of music licenses exist, so clarify music synchronization licensing when necessary!)

Music In Commercials

Types of common music synchronization licenses

  • Advertising – The use of music in commercials promoting products or services

  • TV – Adding music to television programming, or television promotions, to enhance the project

  • Film – Probably the highest profile use of music in media

  • Video Games – This covers everything from consoles to apps and is an area more and more musicians are trying to get involved in

As you can guess, music on television, music in commercials, and music all media serve as excellent outlets for artists both classic and emerging. Let’s look at three key benefits of licensing music.

Benefits of Music Licensing

  • Exposure – Licensing music can be an excellent way to reach a lot of people at once. Music used in commercials, popular TV shows, and big films can end up in front of an audience many times a day for years!

  • Pay – If a song gets licensed, there’s usually a good fee involved. Unlike selling albums where a significant amount of sales is needed in order to generate revenue, a few licenses a year can be enough to live on for a decade!

  • Association – Association creates an instant recognizability. When someone hears your song, they may automatically remember a favorite scene in a film or identify it with values like ones their favorite brands represent.

Lots of other questions arise when you’re considering licensing your music on TV, in commercials, or for any type of media like how to value exposure? What is your song worth? And what do you need to know in order to start the licensing process?

Have you had any experience with music licensing? Tell us about it in the comments or ask any questions and we’ll help you through the process!