Newbie Question

ezway wrote on 3/5/2005, 11:37 AM
Hello and first please except my thanks for taking time to help me.

How does one calculate the estimated music royalty cost and equity when proposing a Indie?

When I was in radio we paid a license fee to BMI and ASCAP, this covered a small equity fee per play, but what are the rules and how does one contact an artist to find the equity?
Best Wishes,
Marty

Comments

JohnnyRoy wrote on 3/5/2005, 11:47 AM
Marty,

Unfortunately, there are no standard fees when syncing music to video. This comes under a special license know as a Sync License and those are one-off deals in the US. Both BMI and ASCAP have databases on their web sites where you can look up the song you want to use and it will list the publishers. It’s the publisher that controls the sync rights to the music so they’re the ones you need to contact.

~jr
ezway wrote on 3/5/2005, 11:52 AM
Great information and thank you. I found I book on the web: "The Indie Guidebook to Music Supervision for Films", by Sharal Churchill. She was with MGM I believe, but may have some insight into the process you described beautifully above. I often wonder if these books may take 500 pages to comunicate information that might be transfered in a long paragraph.

Best Wishes,
Marty
GaryKleiner wrote on 3/5/2005, 1:33 PM
Marty,

Please try to make your subject headings more descriptive.

Thanks,
Gary
rextilleon wrote on 3/5/2005, 1:51 PM
In many cases you have to clear rights with both the publisher and the record company--(they are often different entities).
PossibilityX wrote on 3/5/2005, 2:07 PM
Marty, welcome to the forum.

Have you considered working with local artists whose original music appeals to you? Often the quality of their work is superb and they are VERY easy to deal with. I stress using their original music because the artists hold the rights both to the performance AND the song itself.

I've found local or regional musicians very open to the idea of working with indie filmmakers.

Good luck on your projects.

JohnnyRoy wrote on 3/5/2005, 2:11 PM
> In many cases you have to clear rights with both the publisher and the record company--(they are often different entities).

Good point that I forgot about. The publisher can only give you the right to use some performance of the song. Then you must get permission for whoever’s performance you plan to use. So you need both.

~jr
ezway wrote on 3/5/2005, 2:41 PM
Good point Gary, I will try tto be more specific.
ezway wrote on 3/5/2005, 2:44 PM
Hi rextilleon,
If for example I wanted to use Eva Cassidy, I would?
1. Get Premts from her estate.
2. Then get permits from Blix Street Records.
3. Get permits from the composer

That seems very litigous, but I am sure you are right.

Thank you,
Marty
ezway wrote on 3/5/2005, 2:45 PM
Thank you PossibilityX !
If I use a copyrighted work I must still get permits from the comp[oser, and the local artist?

Thank you
Marty
PossibilityX wrote on 3/5/2005, 4:27 PM
Marty, I'm not too sophisticated about the legalities of this stuff, but here's what I do.

I want to reduce my hassles, so I prefer to work with the person who wrote AND performs the song.

I listen to a lot of local or regional artists on CD. If I hear a song I like, I contact them and ask about the song, specifically: "Is this a song you wrote? If yes, I assume you hold the copyright?" (Because they may have assigned it to someone else, for some reason.)

If they wrote the song, and they still hold the copyright, then as far as I know they're the permission-giving entity I need to deal with. Most local artists aren't connected with BMI or ASCAP, but I ask just in case.

The point for me is to make it as easy and clear-cut as possible. Even if I had the $$$, I doubt I'd be willing to go through all the maneuvers neccesary to secure rights to a well-known song by well-known people. It's needlessly complex and expensive, IMO, and there are some GREAT tunes by GREAT unknown artists who deserve to have their tunes heard in places other than a smoky bar.

Once I get the artists' permission to use his/her work in my project, I send them a release form and ask them to sign it. On the form are the terms of our agreement: compensation, a precise description of the project the song will be used in, and things like that.

I try always to give as much as I can to the artists I work with. Which isn't much in the way of money (and maybe not much in ANY measurable way.) Maybe I shoot footage of them in concert by way of trade, or I add a link to their website from my site, or I give them a certain number of copies of the DVD, or I mow their grass while they're on vacation.

Obviously this is a pretty small-time way of doing business, but I'm no Spielberg. I do what I can for the people I work with and try to be willing to help them in some way if they ask a favor of me. I get their permission in writing and always, always, always give credit for their contribution.

As examples, you can check out some preview clips on my site. The music in each clip was supplied by local or regional artists, a few of whom are somewhat well-known in their region. These artists were very generous with me.

Email me if you want the link. I'm at john at possibilityx dot com

---John