music licensing: is only a Master use License needed if it's an indy band?

P

Paunch

Well-known member
If the music I'm using in my film is by an indy artist, who belongs to no record label, nor is there a publisher for the composition THEN would I only need a Master Use license for the indy artist, and not require a sync and performance license for the "composition"?


cheers,

tyler
 
Paunch said:
If the music I'm using in my film is by an indy artist, who belongs to no record label, nor is there a publisher for the composition THEN would I only need a Master Use license for the indy artist, and not require a sync and performance license for the "composition"?


cheers,

tyler
Click to expand...

I am not a lawyer and when push comes to shove that's who you should be asking, but copyright to the music and lyrics are owned by whoever created them or whoever he assigned them to. It's a "composition" regardless of whether a publisher is in the picture and the copyright exists from the moment it's fixed into a tangible form. So to be perfectly legal you do need the sync license. A Master Use license is different - it allows to you to use a specific recording, a whole 'nother copyright altogether. As an example, if you wanted to use a rendition of Happy Birthday recorded by Frank Sinatra, you'd need to acquire a sync license to the words and lyrics from Time-Warner (the current copyright owner I believe) and the Master Use license from whatever record label owned the recording itself (or the Sinatra estate if they've acquirefd the rghts to his recording or whoever else it might have been transferred to). The fact that your artist isn't signed to a label and isn't a publisher doesn't change any of that - it only simplifys figuring out who you talk to to get the licenses. A lawyer could help you put together a single agreement that covers all the bases.
 
Thanks Steve.

I have a master use license, as well as a sync & performance license which are templates from an industry friend of mine. I was really hoping to avoid having to consult a Lawyer, it just gets really really pricey for this sort of thing, no??
 
Paunch said:
Thanks Steve.

I have a master use license, as well as a sync & performance license which are templates from an industry friend of mine. I was really hoping to avoid having to consult a Lawyer, it just gets really really pricey for this sort of thing, no??
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Not as pricey as settling a lawsuit. :smile:

Good luck!
 
Nonsense, people are too paranoid about matters they can take care of themselves with a little research and intelligence. There's no reason in the entire world that you can't write up a contract or agreement between you and the artist that serves just fine. That's ALL you need, I think 99% of people think that contracts are something so complicated that you must use legalese just to write them. That is NOT true!!! As long as you have a written agreement that is clear as to what rights you have and it's signed by both parties, then you have an agreement.

I write my own contracts and usually just use templates that I modify, it's a lot easier than consulting a lawyer every time. And, yes, I do have a company attorney and he told me the same thing -- it's not economical for us to consult him every time for drawing up contracts. Templates work fine.

Even something as simple as along the following lines would work: "I, the undersigned, agree to allow (Filmmaker) the right to use my music and the lyrics contained in the song, (whatever), in the feature film (whatever) and any marketing materials associated with the feature film distributed in any medium for all of time. I further agree to forfeit the right to seek future compensation for such recording or to seek damages for use of said recording," blah blah you get the idea. There are forms like this all over and you just want to cover your butt in every way possible. I mostly wrote the band contracts for my last music video myself, I didn't even consult templates, because I was granting certain rights for them to use the video (that I paid for) and guarding certain other rights. As long as something is clearly stated and nothing left to chance, that's a contract. In the old days you had a verbal contract, but that doesn't hold up very well.

What are the odds that someone sues you when they signed a document that covered all of the terms and clearly agreed to what you wanted, though? If they're going to sue you when they've signed that, they could sue you regardless of whether a lawyer wrote it. But that document still will hold up in court as an agreement, in writing, between the two parties.

A lot of legal contracts are written poorly anyway, as a professional writer I can spot the BS right away, it's because lawyers may be good writers but they're not always real writers, i.e. professionals. They are just lawyers. If you have too much legalese it's actually WORSE, because then people can claim they didn't understand what they were signing and didn't think they were giving away X right, but if state in clear English what the intentions are and what the terms are, you're honestly better off.
 
thanks jonathan. I did end up using a few kick ass templates I ripped from an entertainment law handbook. It covered all of the usage and contained all of the licenses I need. Why do people seem to think they need to consult a lawyer at every turn? It's this sort of thinking that hinders independent filmmaking.....if you can learn to shoot it, edit it, and do everything else yourself then why not take care of your own legal stuff pending its not too heavy.

Music licensing can be a bit tricky, but at the end of the day its pretty straight forward and I'm pretty certain that in the future I'll follow the same route of using my licenses that cover all of the rights I need anyways.

A little bit of reading can save you thousands of dollars which could be better spent on supporting my drinking habits...lol
 
I agree

I agree

My lawyer charges $325/hr, I don't really want to incur expenses that are unnecessary. Contracts can be very complicated but they can also be very simple. You just have to have seen what contracts are, and piece together what you want or rewrite the appropriate ones. I did that with my crew deal memo on the last shoot too. Just took one from a feature film from my UPM and rewrote it for the music video.

haha, money better spent on drinking habits, I love it. $325 is a lot of alcohol ;)
 
Music Clearance

Music Clearance

I know this thread is about a month old, but I feel compelled to comment. There's nothing wrong with drafting a contact yourself. The problem comes in when you don't know enough about music clearance and licensing and you don't know what should and should not be in the contract. You may think you have everything covered, when you really have left out one or more important clauses.

The other thing to keep in mind is, many of these unsigned artists collaborate with other songwriters. If all parties are not accounted for on the contract, you could have issues arise.

It's always easy thinking when you're at the beginning of the contract drafting and signing. The issues come up when there's commerce involved. The film starts making money and someone crawls out of nowhere claiming rights to the song that's in your film.

I challenge someone to send me a self drafted contract and let me review it. I'm sure I'll find something that could be an issue if pressed by the copyright owner.

There's so much to discuss on this topic, but I'll leave it at this. If someone comments, I'll be glad to reply.

Just my two cents!!
 
The Music Supervisor said:
I challenge someone to send me a self drafted contract and let me review it. I'm sure I'll find something that could be an issue if pressed by the copyright owner.

Just my two cents!!
Click to expand...

yup, sent them over a month ago and didn't hear back. I stepped up to your challenge and didn't even get a response, your word means nothing.
 
the main concern for a filmmaker should be what the distributor wants when you sell your film or put your in the hands of a distributor. They ask for contracts for everything and so it's best to ask your distributor what the contract should say with respect to ASCAP musicians/composers and non-ASCAP contributors.

Since this thread is about contracts with unsigned artists, I'd say find a good template and modify it, then run it by your distributor or potential distributor.

And when you find the answer, let me know :-)
 
i would speak to my distributor about it, but since i am the distributor it would turn into a very one-sided conversation with myself.
 
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