A Licensing Primer for Musicians

Without the talents of musicians, movies would be less suspenseful, cartoons would be a little less entertaining, and long waits on the telephone would be filled with silence. With the incredible impact music has on our everyday lives, you would assume that being a musician is very profitable. Unfortunately, many musicians have trouble breaking even after they take into account all of their expenses. Legal fees, instrument repair expenses, travel costs, and other costs of doing business eat into the revenues of most musicians until their profits are almost nonexistent. Savvy musicians know that music licensing can be an ideal way to make their work more profitable without giving up control of their works completely.

Before you can understand music licensing, you need to know a little bit about music copyright. Not just a song can be copyrighted. Each individual piece of a song can have copyright protection. If someone writes lyrics, these can be copyrighted without any accompanying music. If someone writes notes to a song in a piece of sheet music, this can be copyrighted without any lyrics or performance of the notes. If you take the notes and the lyrics and perform them, the performance can also be copyrighted. While you do not have to register your copyright for it to be effective, it must be registered if you want your rights to hold up in a court of law.

There are several parties involved in the actual licensing of a song. The music composer and writer of the lyrics usually own the copyrights to the song. The label is the recording company that owns the recording of the performance. The performance was most likely recorded in the label's own studio. The publisher is a company that represents the music composer and writer of the song's lyrics. Any time someone wants to use the song, they must get permission. Examples of song use include television commercials, movies, television shows, radio shows, and even toys that play specific songs. This is where licensing enters the picture.

There are several different types of licensing that can be applied to musical works. Master use and synchronization licenses are the ones that are usually applied to television and movies. A synchronization license allows the licensee to use a song in combination with television or video. The master use license is needed if a television or video producer wants to edit a song in any way. This can include editing for length or for inappropriate lyrics. The fees for music licensing in television and video vary widely depending on the popularity of the song being licensed, how the song will be used, and how well-known the recording artist is. If a relatively unknown band records a song and licenses it to a television studio for use in a popular program, the band may be willing to give up monetary compensation in favor of the widespread exposure they will receive. A well-known band such as Smashing Pumpkins or Dave Matthews Band would expect to be compensated for the license.