During the early days of film, when there was no dialogue, there was music. Imagine a Charlie Chaplin film with no music! Music is a fundamental part of filmmaking which most filmmakers make the dire mistake of leaving to the last minute. This is when filmmakers discover that the music they want (or have already used in the film) turns out to be more expensive than anticipated or there are delays in clearing the music which would push back production schedules. So the sooner you know what music you can use and how much it will cost, the better off you will be.
Clearing music for a film can be a very daunting task even for the most experienced filmmaker. Locating copyright holders can be a lot of work; music clearance is a highly specialised field that requires persistence and patience. So you may want to use a music supervisor or a licensing company.
A music supervisor’s role consists of negotiating with rights holders for the film’s music. They will prepare budgets, source music, prepare contracts and keep the filmmaker informed and updated about any changes in allocated budgets.
Because of their close working relationships with rights owners, music supervisors can also highlight any possible issues with song usages. If you go it on your own you are likely to end up in the dark dungeon of a music industry executive’s desk where requests disappear when the request doesn’t actually contain all the necessary information to license a piece of music. Also, there are long standing relationships in this rather small music licensing community and connections always help.
When you start the negotiation process with the various rights holders, you’ll need to be prepared to provide a lot of information (in writing) including:
- The composition title, author(s), publisher, source of the recorded track.
- Specific intended use, including length (eg. 30 seconds of background music or two minutes playing under the credits).
- A brief synopsis of the film.
- A film budget and music budget.
- Distribution plans (eg. student film contest, indie film festival).
- The rights that you request, including territory
- Information on other music that may be used in the film.
Music has two rights to be cleared: Master Rights and Publishing Rights. When you negotiate the rights to music in your film, make sure you are getting both.
The Master Rights are the rights associated with using the actual sound recording of a piece of music, which can be obtained from the record company. The Publishing Rights are the rights associated with the intellectual property of a composition (music and lyrics). Also, depending on the number of composers involved, there could be multiple publishers who each control a percentage of the composition.
Even if you plan to re-record the song yourself, using it on a karaoke scene or have the actors sing the song as part of the script you still need to clear the publishing. In fact, you always need to clear the publishing unless the composition falls within the ‘public domain’, and in that case you still must make sure the ‘arrangement’ of that public domain composition does not need to be licensed.
The phrase ‘public domain’ refers to the loss or expiration of the copyright holders rights in and/or to a work. When a work is in the public domain, it is available to the public for copying, distribution, publication, display or other use. You must be absolutely certain that a work is in the public domain before using the work without a licence. Also note that a new arrangement of a song that is in the public domain can constitute a new copyright. Uses of the new arrangement must be approved by the copyright owner. Copyright law stipulates that songs are placed in the public domain 50 years after the death of the composer.
When it comes to clearing church or traditional music, research is very important. You may find a particular gospel song is under public domain but the arrangement is registered to an individual church. The same would go for traditional works which normally lie with the traditional councils.
An alternative to using a composer (scorer) or licensing existing music is the use of library music. Music libraries have a huge number of pre-cleared tracks typically offering a broad range of musical styles and genres that would cost a lot less than any commercial track.
Music libraries work of a set of fees set by the mechanical rights collection society, CAPASSO (Composers, Authors and Publishers Association). The rate card can be found on their website. Library music being used for television programming in South Africa is covered under the blanket licence agreement between the collection societies and broadcasters and would be considered ‘free to use’. The composers and the library house earn their income through music cue sheets. Without cue sheets, it would be almost impossible for such composers and publishers to be compensated for their work.
Though complex, choosing music for your film can also be very exciting. Remember there is always help around the corner!
