4 Coisas Que Você Deveria Saber Quando For Licenciar sua Música

The Four Things You Should Know When You Request a Music License

First of all thanks to Art Neill   and Teri Karobonik  for this article.

You found the perfect background music for your new video. The only hurdle left to jump is to get permission to use the music. Music is one of the most difficult types of creative works to license.  This is because there are multiple layers of rights for each song: the rights to the composition (typically the sheet music and lyrics), and the rights to the recording of a song. And then there are sub-rights to each of those rights: performance rights, rights to publish arrangements, and rights to synchronize a sound recording with video… the list goes on.

If you’re working on films, documentaries, YouTube videos, games, or podcasts, you’ll need to become familiar with at least the basics of licensing. New Media Rights has spent almost 10 years advising musicians, so we’ve distilled some our recommendations into a list of four key points to set you on the path to getting the license that you need.

What follows is breakdown of some of the basics for getting permission to use music. But before that, we need to provide a few points of background on how music is protected by copyright law.

A “Song” = Musical Composition + Sound Recording

A recorded song has two parts: the musical composition and the sound recording. 

The musical composition is made up of the written lyrics and the musical notes – think of it as the original sheet music. 

The sound recording is the recording artist’s specific recorded version of those lyrics and musical notes, whether recorded as a solo track or with a band. 

Copyright law protects each half of this musical equation separately because each is a different creative step, often produced by different people. Once you realize that copyright in most music is split between the composition and sound recording, and that each of those copyrighted works has its own rights attached to it (that can be given away independently), you can see how music licensing questions get complicated quickly. 

It’s obvious that you should always try to obtain permission from the correct copyright owner, but with music, know that you may have to track down multiple copyright owners, publishing companies, and performance rights organizations to fully clear the music you want to use.

Also keep in mind, even though you may have legally purchased a song from a music store like Amazon, you only have the rights to listen to the music – you do not own the rights to use that song in a film and must still obtain permission from the copyright owner to use the song.

Who Owns What In Practice?

Because of the practical realities of how the music business works, the copyright owner of a particular musical composition or sound recording is not always the person who created it. 

Copyright owners of the composition are often the songwriter, a music publishing company, or sometimes a combination of both. 

The copyright owner of the song recording is sometimes the recording artist, but the recording artist might also assign (transfer) their copyrights (in whole or in part) to a record label.

Remember that permission to use a song must come from both:

• The copyright owner of the composition (or the arrangement) and,  
• The copyright owner of the sound recording.

How Do I Navigate This Mess? How to Ask For Music Licenses

Now that you know that there are two potential works that you need to get rights to, and the rights to each can be split more than a handful of different ways, the most important thing you can do is tailor your request to only ask for what is necessary to do what you are trying to accomplish.

The more rights you ask for, the more expensive the rights will end up costing and the more likely your request may end up getting rejected or ignored.  So to figure out “how” to ask for a license, you should start by figuring out exactly what rights you need. 

1.       Think about purpose, exhibition, and distribution before contacting a representative.

Specifically, think about how you want to use the song (Background music? In the credits? As the focal point of a scene? On the title screen of your game?)                                            

Then, think about how your project will reach your intended audience:

•  Do you intend to submit it to a film festival?
• Plan to screen it in a movie theater (known as theatrical rights)?
• Video on demand, or strictly online streaming?
• Will your video, podcast, or game be available in other countries?

Thinking about how you want to use the song within your creative work and how the audience will access your work will be very helpful in figuring out the type of license you will need. 

To make the process go smoothly, you need to be prepared to clearly articulate exactly what rights you need before talking to a representative. It makes the most financial sense and increases your odds of success to ask for the specific rights you need, no more, no less.

2.   Do a basic search, and identify the copyright owner

After you identify what you want, you should find who owns each of the rights that you need. 

Take note of who owns the copyright (the record label who produced the song and the publishing house), and the date the song was published. 

Sometimes if it is not clear who owns the publishing rights, and it may help to reference the ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC databases. 

3.   Be specific and clear

When you contact a licensing representative to negotiate for a license, be as specific as possible. You want to make sure you obtain the rights and permissions that you need. You might need multiple different types of licenses, so clarity and precision are key. And be persistent: the costs of licenses vary, but you can negotiate for a reduced rate.

4.   Make sure you got the actual rights you need

Once you’ve actually been issued a license, make sure the contract describing the extent and nature of the license doesn’t leave out important rights you’ll need.

Ways to move forward

Although reading this article can’t turn you into an experienced music lawyer, hopefully we’ve provided the basics to help you start researching some of these concepts on your own. If you have additional questions and want us to do a more advanced article on the topic or a series, feel free to contact us with your questions, comments, and suggestions.

If you want to get beyond the basics, you can check out our book Don’t Panic :) A Legal Guide (in plain english)for Small Businesses and Creative Professionals, which covers intellectual property and many other legal issues you'll encounter in your business or sign up for our free music law updates list.