Industry Tips & Advice: How Music Licensing Works by Marshall Brain Pt 7 « GET IT DONE BLOG

Industry Tips & Advice: How Music Licensing Works by Marshall Brain Pt 7 « GET IT DONE BLOG.

Think music licensing is limited to t.v. and the film industry? Think again. The video game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for Playstation 2 and its soundtrack box set are filled with dozens of famous songs. There’s a wide range of artists — from Tesla to Tears for Fears, the Psychedelic Furs to Squeeze and Frankie Goes to Hollywood to Foreigner.

Other Licensing Scenarios

There are many other situations where you need a license to use music. Here are several examples:

• You want to create a new song that usessamplesof other songs. Even if you are using just a few notes, you need to obtain licenses through an organization likeLicenseMusicNow.com. Otherwise, you will end up paying even more in penalties when the song is played in public.
• You want to play music in your lobby,elevator, restrooms, etc. You either need to obtain performance licenses from ASCAP and BMI, or you need to contract with a company likeMuzak, which handles all the licensing for you.
• You want to play music in your small restaurant. You have three choices. Technically, you can play theradio. But in that case your customers will be listening to all the commercials, which they may not appreciate. You can play tapes orCDs. In that case you need to file with ASCAP and BMI for blanket licenses. Or you can contract with a commercial music services firm likeMuzak.
• You are making a yearbookDVDfor school, a wedding video, etc. and you want background music. You cannot legally use songs off a CD for these purposes. That forces you to look forproduction music— music produced by companies specifically for these applications. The simplest example of production music is the kind of music you get when you buysound effect files and music clips on a CD. A place likeMusic Boxoffers complete songs in many different styles. (read more…)

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