Licensing
What is a Music License?
A music license is when a copyright holder (you the artist) grants the right to use his or her work publicly, and in return receives payment via a flat fee and/or royalties based on an agreed contract. Sometimes these licenses have a time limit, say for a few months during the holidays, while other licenses can be granted indefinitely or bought outright from the copyright owner.
Types of Music Licenses
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Synchronization License (or Sync License)
Frequently called a sync license, this is specialized for use with visual media, such as TV shows, film, commercials, news segments, video games and more. A license fee can be determined by how the song will be used, where it will be played, anticipated exposure, experience, and any other royalty rate. This license is also common with artists who want to make a music video for cover songs of other artists’ work.
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Mechanical License
Used for the reproduction of the song in physical form, most often CD’s or soundtracks. Typically only relevant to the song itself, and not any videos associated with it. Extremely common if you release covers of songs that aren't in public domain.
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Public Performance License
This type of license is very broad and encompasses radio, websites, stores, restaurants, music venues, nightclubs, and other public spaces. You usually don't need to worry about acquiring this license unless you are using a song for business purposes.
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Master Recording License
If you’ve ever asked yourself, what is a master recording license and why is someone asking for it, don’t panic! A master recording license, also called a master use license or master license, grants the recipient the right to use the entirety or any parts of the original sound recording for their means. This is common with compilation albums like "Top 20s".
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Print License
Primarily used to reproduce sheet music or lyrics, whether for karaoke, merchandise, marketing materials, and more.
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Blanket License
This license allows users to have access to a portion or complete collection of songs for a flat annual fee, which can be convenient for places that just want background music like a shopping center or a cafe. It’s less time-consuming to compile all the songs requested, instead of creating a license for each and every track.
Music License vs Copyright: What’s the Difference?
A music license is a “lending license” for others to use your song for a set time period for a fee. On the other hand, copyrights are for the recording and lyrics themselves. So, you can use licensing to “lend” the song, but the intellectual property of the song itself stays with the copyright owner - that is, you (or your label, depending on your contract).
All information above, comes from The Indie Music Academy, For more information regarding music licensing and exclusive right click the link below
https://www.indiemusicacademy.com/blog/music-licensing-overview
How To Sync Your Music
Sync Libraries
Below is a link with a list of 9 top rated sync libraries
https://www.indieflow.me/blog/licensing-and-syncing-your-music-the-best-sites
What Is Sync Licensing?
A sync license/synchronization refers to an agreement surrounding the use of recorded music in any product involving the simultaneous use of music and moving images. This includes, (you guessed it!) movies, tv shows, advertisements, video games and more!
What do you need for a sync license?
There are 2 Copyrights you need in order for your music to to be synced
Master Rights- This refers to the recordings themselves, the right to copy and exploit the master recordings hence ‘master’ rights. Each recording has its own master right attached to it, which can be bought, sold, or licensed for sync.
Publishing Rights- This refers to the songs themselves. The actual music and lyrics and melodies and harmonies.
To give you an example of how these work, if you write and record an original song all by yourself, you own 100% of the master and publishing rights for the song and the recording. An understanding of publishing rights is vital in music sync licensing.
Your rights are what generate revenue for you in the world of Music Sync Licensing. Each time one of your songs is about to be placed, the licenser (music supervisor or client) needs your permission to ‘clear’ or authorise the use of the track. This includes both the recording (master), and the song (publishing).
If you have collaborated on a track with another writer, and you each own 50%, the music supervisor has to clear the publishing rights for both you and your co-writer, and whoever owns the master rights. It’s because of this that, today in sync, all the rights (both sides master & publishing) are commonly controlled by one entity. This could be an individual, a label or publisher, or a sync agent. This is referred to as ONE STOP ( the Supervisor only has to make one stop when clearing tracks. The more people that are involved with this process, the trickier it tends to be…
Once you’ve ‘cleared’, your agent will send you the license or quote request, and you can sign off! Once the show airs you’ll be paid an advance fee, commonly known as a ‘sync fee’. It’s only after this that you can collect royalties
Sync Gatekeepers
1. The Director. At the very top of this decision chain is the director, they are the creative driving force behind all productions, particularly in TV and Film, Games and Advertising. The director is often called creative director, or head of creative or something along those lines. These people will be the final deciders in placing music.
2. Music Supervisors. These are music and legal experts whose entire job is to find the right music for a scene or ‘cue’, manage the music budget, and clear and license that music for the project. The supervision world is a small one, there are roughly 800 – 1000 music supervisors in the western world operating at any given time (depending on how you define them). These really are the people you want to get your music to. The only drawback is that there are tens of thousands of other music companies and individuals doing the same thing! It’s an insanely competitive market, especially in a world that is massively oversaturated with music. The key here is curation, which brings me to my next point in the chain.
3. Labels, Libraries, Publishers, and Music Sync Licensing Agents- Your best bet for getting your music placed in anything is having good working relationships with one of these three. Each has its own pros and cons, and each works slightly differently.
All Information above and for more on sync licensing got to the link below