|
Liner Notes
| |
Publishing and Royalties 101:
The Nuts and Bolts of Songwriting Income
(Part One of a Two-part
Article)
By Darcie-Nicole Wicknick
Special to MusicBizAdvice.com
FILM SCORES, TELEVISION, & TELEVISION
COMMERCIALS
Oftentimes a movie soundtrack or television show will want to use your song
to enhance its visual. Or, an advertiser will want to endorse a product with your song.
These licenses are not compulsory. Several licenses must be obtained and you the writer
benefit from some of them.
They will need to obtain a master use license (from the label, most likely), and you will
not benefit from this license because this license comes from the owner of the sound
recording. They will also need to obtain a synchronization license - a license to put the
song into film, synching it with video. The writer does benefit from this, and you are
paid every time this film or clip airs.
If the song will also be used on the recording for sale of the movie or TV soundtrack, the
film company and/or record company for the soundtrack needs to obtain another master use
license for that purpose, plus a mechanical license (not a compulsory mechanical
license.) This is why sometimes you will hear a song in a movie but it doesn’t make
it to the CD; it’s very costly, and the label who owns the sound recording does not
need to grant permission to reprint the song on a separate CD - especially if the
soundtrack will be distributed by a label other than the original label.
The only license that must be granted by any label is the compulsory mechanical license,
which allows an artist to pay to cover a song that’s already been recorded. The other
licenses are the option of the owners of the song and/or sound recording. (That is why
sampling is illegal without clearance.)
In the case of television commercials, the ad agency may decide to change the lyrics to
fit the product. They may decide not to use the master, because the song is not a perfect
fit lyrically or is too expensive to obtain. So they will obtain a special synchronization
license in this case, revise the lyrics to fit the ad, and the new lyricist will be a
partial owner for the revised lyrics.
Back
to Feature Home |
| |
Suicide Hotlines
|
