This week’s post is about the people who choose the music that you hear in your favorite TV shows and films…Music Supervisors.
Music, as it relates to film and television, sparks a connection with audiences.
Just think of some of the most memorable soundtracks and songs in films, like “Eye Of The Tiger” from Rocky, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (I’m showing my age but I loved the Bee Gees in the 70’s), or one of my all time favorites, the entire “Above The Rim” soundtrack!
In television, music can become synonymous with the show like the theme song to “Friends”, “Cheers”, or more recently “American Idol”. Music that is actually used in a film or television project can come from various sources, such as orchestral scores, preexisting songs, or new music that is recorded specifically for the project.
All of the music that is included in a project’s on-screen soundtrack, or sometimes in a separate soundtrack album, is facilitated by the person who serves the role of Music Supervisor.
What Exactly Is A Music Supervisor?
In short, the Music Supervisor’s role is to clear the necessary rights to the music desired, for the use by a Production Company within a designated budget.
How Is The Music Selected?
Music Supervisors are rarely given the final decision-making power, but they usually have the autonomy to select a short list for the specific music they think fits a scene based on criteria set by the Production Company, Director, or, in some cases, the Studio or Network. Music is often one of the last elements added to a film or TV project, and there is usually an extremely tight time frame for working out all of the details.
The selection process depends on the music source:
New Songs
If a new song or recording is needed, the Music Supervisor will usually draw from his or her network of contacts in the music industry to line up songwriters, producers and performers for consideration. The terms of the relationship are negotiated just like any other music agreement.
Existing Songs
The selection process for existing music can sometimes be challenging given the vast number of songs in the universe, but technology has made this process much easier. Many music companies who license music have it categorized and compiled in a database so “sifting” through potential titles is easy. For example, if a Music Supervisor is looking for a popular 1990s R&B song, with a mid-tempo beat, performed by a group, the search criteria can be inputted into the system and a short list of potential songs will pop up. From there, the Music Supervisor can evaluate.
Scores
Music Supervisors also screen and hire composers to score the project. Scores can range from the big orchestra sounds you hear in the background of a scene that gives you chills or creates suspense, to sound design, which are the booms and the intense crash sounds. There are composers who are experts in every type of score so the Music Supervisor has to do his or her research.
Soundtrack Albums
Also, if the production company desires to release a soundtrack album then those songs need to be selected. The music in the project is not necessarily going to be on a soundtrack album. These rights are subject to negotiations.
How Do You “Clear” Music?
Existing songs are owned or controlled by music publishers (or administrators) and record companies.
To “clear” music for play in connection with a television or film project, a music supervisor has to obtain two licenses;
a synchronization license for the use of the underlying musical composition (the music and lyrics), and
a master use license for use of the master sound recording (the version of the composition that was recorded). Most of the provisions in these licenses are standard, however, there are instances where additional terms need to be negotiated, such as when a producer wants to use the title of a song as the title of the project, or he or she wants to incorporate the song’s story into the project.
Such additional uses warrant higher fees.
Music Clearance Example
Say a Producer wants to open his movie with the song, “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson and have a man doing the dance from the famous video. How do you clear the rights for that use?
First you need to figure out who owns or controls the composition and master use rights. The composition is owned by Sony/ATV Songs, LLC, so you would need to request a quote for a synchronization license, and then negotiate the terms of the license.
Sony Music Entertainment owns the master recording, so you would work out a master use license with them. The following details are included in a typical synchronization and master use quote request (most larger labels and publishers have their own forms to fill out):
– Title of song
– Writer(s)/Publishers
– Label or master owner
– Artist
– Timing (length of piece of music used)
– Number of times used in film
– Type of use:
– Optional future use (i.e., more time, different use, festival v. commercial distribution)
– Film release date/Television broadcast date
– Desired type of use in the project (Background Source; Visual Vocal or Instrumental performance; Main Title credits; End Title credits)
In addition to making sure that the above information is known, the Music Supervisor is responsible for performing due diligence to confirm copyright ownership and authorship status. This is not hard when a major rights holder is granting the license, but it can become challenging when there are smaller rights holders involved.
A Music Supervisor will sometimes need to either use the film’s production counsel to address legal issues, or if production counsel is not experienced in music law, the Production Company may hire legal counsel to address those particular issues.
The Music Supervisor stays informed and is usually working to create other options in case the first choice doesn’t work out for some reason (i.e. a high fee quote or a restriction on the song that won’t work for the project).
In my example above, it would be necessary for the Production Company to know whether a license is needed to perform the “Billie Jean” dance. If for some reason the dance could not be performed, that may defeat the purpose for clearing the song.
As mentioned above, if the Production Company desires to release a soundtrack album, additional rights have to be secured, such as securing mechanical licenses.
Staying Within Budget
The biggest challenge for a Music Supervisor may be to stay within the given music budget. The budget for music in a film is typically between 2-5% of the movie’s overall budget. For example, if a Producer wants a certain feel for a love scene he will look for the perfect song.
What if the perfect song is too expensive? And, what if you don’t find out about the high quote until a couple weeks before the project’s delivery date? This scenario would cause the production to make a tough decision…whether to pay the unreasonable fee or hope that a cheaper song can be found immediately.
To give you an idea of what licensing fees can run, Al and Bob Kohn, authors of Kohn on Music Licensing (a well respected industry source), state that the going rate to individually license a popular song for the life of the copyright in a worldwide motion picture theatrical release is between $5,000-25,000 for background use, $7,500-50,000 for visual/vocal use, and $15,000-100,000 for featured use. Use of the title of the song as the title of the motion picture should bring an additional $50,000 to $100,000 over the above fees.
Use of the music for opening credits might double the synch fee with closing credits slightly lower. For lower budgets, music libraries are a good option.
Some budget planning issues to consider include:
– How many songs will be used in the entire project?
– Are “popular songs” needed to increase the value of the project?
– Is the original master necessary or can a song be re-recorded inexpensively to avoid a costly master use license?
– How many different rights holders will you need to contact?
– Are there any unusual uses of the songs that may affect the fees?
As a final thought, many Production Companies may want to jump at the chance of using music or a composer who is willing to contribute for no charge so that they can get a credit in the project. I encourage you to properly memorialize these types of deals.
On the surface it sounds like a great situation but if the relationship is not properly documented it could have the appearance of an unconscionable deal (unfair in the eyes of the law).
If this is the case, then when your project becomes a big success the musician may make this claim and you will have to work through a dispute. To avoid this situation, you are probably better off paying a small up-front fee to the musician than no fee at all.
Are you in the Music Industry? Make sure you have all the legal agreements you need in place! I have had dozens of clients have their growing success roadblocked by a bad agreement (or none at all) from early on in their career. That is why I created a crazy affordable package of the legal agreements you most need to have in the music business. http://www.lawyersrock.com/agreement-packages/music-agreements/