6 thoughts on “5 things you should do before you seek a music licensing deal

  1. What a wonderful in depth experience reading this article, it was very helpful and educational realy I enjoyed every bit piece of it.
    Thank you, for taking times out of your busy schedule drafting out this helpful informative section about music licensing: it’s a every indie musicians must read article, this is a good look.
    Great work I have learned a lot from it , I love it.
    Again thanks

  2. I get it, copyright the songs to make the rest of the process legal-hassle free for use in movies etc…but $55 a song? Ouch. And where is that bundle them together to get a better price thing?

    1. I recommend bundling up to 10 songs together to register them as a Group of Works. Does not mean the songs must be released or published together. Does mean you save money. Also, you have the option of registering a master recording (you should own the master recording with this option) with the song composition at the same time which is an additional savings.

  3. PS Also your artist/songwriters probably know this but offering a music user both the performer and the song rights is something they like. We started doing it many years ago, contacted original artists to rerecord. What a grand time it was. Creativity and particularly music is so grand.

  4. Your article was one of the most concise and on target ones I have seen in a while. Licensing can be a very complicated process at times especially when one promotes, and then the licensing challenge and securing appropriate payment begins. I was blessed to be involved in promoting and licensing with a wonderful team for years, working with songwriters and songs. Because we promoted to every possible area including advertising, tv, films, tv promos, industrial promos, evolving technologies, etc. we tried to clear rights in advance. I spent time on the phone explaining to contemporary songwriters (I worked for a US global publisher) that sometimes having a song “out there” in a good way is important because it keeps a song alive, it allows for a new audience to the music/artist (even sometimes when the original artist is not involved) and because one use of a song can lead to others. And if in movie or tv show, performances can still be paid in a time when most licenses require all rights now known or hereafter known. But here too performances are included in many licenses.

    One also knows the value of promotion via exposure but it is a tricky exchange. In our digital world I want to see music have value. It is a hard road in these times. Thank you for your article.

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