how much did you spend on your film's soundtrack?

[Paunch]

I was doing pretty good with the majority of the music in my film, mainly gratis rights for everything but I'm looking at forking out $500 to a publisher and probably the same to the record company for one song, and the last song might be anywhere from 300-1000 pending I actually get the rights to it.

After 2 years of working on the soundtrack I see the value of spending money on a soundtrack. It eliminates the hassle of having to search for good indie music. The time spent looking for quality music that didn't require a huge fee could have been better spent on doing other things, like worrying about design and marketing.

My next film will have a music budget of 10-20k, no more wasting time for sub-par music....it's too much of a hassle.

 

[jls4]

Nothing -

I've done two movies and never paid a dime. I'm on my third, and finally said - okay I'll pay, but not because I have to, just because I want to get used to it. I'm setting aside about $10K and saying that depending on home many songs I get, I'll divide that amount for artists.

Musicians are more hungry than anyone else in the business. I'm in Atlanta and on my last movie, I pulled people as far as California. The Music business is the hardest place to break into. 100x as hard as movies. At least with movies, if you make a cheap one and are willing to take say a $20K deal, you'll sell. With music, they have to have radio play or they won't make money. And radio play is hard to get with little to no money. Paing a DJ $3000 to play in one city, will not equal alot of sales. I know because I did some video work for a music producer.

Anyway, check online myspace.com and other music based resources. Get ready to spend a lot of time in front of the computer. On the last movie, I emailed 35 people - told them I couldn't pay - but the music would be in a movie. 7 responded - funny thing is the people with the best music responded. Those with the worst, didn't. I guess the ones with good stuff and more hungry because they know their stuff is good.

You're really helping a musician because having their song in your movie, makes them more credable and opens them up to more listeners hearing their song. If you can pay them cool - like I said I want to pay - but you don't need to budget more than $1K a song, and most will be happy with $500 a song. But all of this is for indie artists.

 

[grinner]

I pay a blanket fee to deWolfe music per production. This way, I can have creative freedoms not had by paying per needle drop. One fee...unllimited use.

sweet.

 

[Paunch]

yeah its a time consuming process...i grabbed 19 tracks for my surf video and it took a long long time to find quality music. I did the myspace route, placed add's in every single city in the classified ads, took out ads on versusmedia.com and got a write up in a UK newsletter. I would have to say 500-1000 is worth it in a way after all the time I spent looking for music....i had literally hundreds of cds come my way + hundreds of mp3s over the email and 90% of it was crap....so when i wasn't satisfied I'd go back to searching and sometimes it would take a month to get the music.

I just worked something out with a major publisher and UK record label....now would they be providing the music license contracts? There are a few weird stipulations with the publisher including a 2 year limited festival license (no wide release) and a prints only license.....i guess if i get tv airplay it's an entirely different fee altogether but all I can say is the people at Ole and Buck Music Publishing are great and really moved the process along extremely quickly.

Grinner is dewolfe a music licensing co.? and what exactly is a blanket fee? I've heard of it but wouldn't know how to go about obtaining one...

t

 

[Richard J. Johnson]

I produce and write music myself so I don't have to pay anyone at this point. When I do get good enough for larger budgets I will pay a professional.

 

[dasher]

You shouldn't pay anything more than Festival Rights. If the distributor likes your music then they'll pay for the theatrical and if not then they'll change it.

If you pay a ton of money for music rights the distributor probably won't cut you any better of a deal (since the contracts on those things are usually 10-12 pages long and they like to have their own templates in place for that)

 

[Paunch]

You shouldn't pay anything more than Festival Rights. If the distributor likes your music then they'll pay for the theatrical and if not then they'll change it.

If you pay a ton of money for music rights the distributor probably won't cut you any better of a deal (since the contracts on those things are usually 10-12 pages long and they like to have their own templates in place for that)

Well, I wouldn't pay for more than festival rights but it is an independent surf video which means self distribution....why spend 100k if the distrib. can't make me more money than I can make myself???

 

[jls4]

yeah its a time consuming process...i grabbed 19 tracks for my surf video and it took a long long time to find quality music. I did the myspace route, placed add's in every single city in the classified ads, took out ads on versusmedia.com and got a write up in a UK newsletter. I would have to say 500-1000 is worth it in a way after all the time I spent looking for music....i had literally hundreds of cds come my way + hundreds of mp3s over the email and 90% of it was crap....so when i wasn't satisfied I'd go back to searching and sometimes it would take a month to get the music.
t

I actually worked backward. I looked up people and asked them directly through their website. I never let people send stuff to me. I hand pick what I want and then wait for their reply. That way I don't spend a lot of time checking out the literal thousands of songs you can get swamped with.

 

[plexi]

You shouldn't pay anything more than Festival Rights. If the distributor likes your music then they'll pay for the theatrical and if not then they'll change it.

If you pay a ton of money for music rights the distributor probably won't cut you any better of a deal (since the contracts on those things are usually 10-12 pages long and they like to have their own templates in place for that)

I work at an indie distributor, and this is the quickest way for us not to be interested in picking up your film. You're the producer, it's your job to get the music cleared. I know dozens of indie films that were never released because the filmmaker needle-dropped unclearable tracks or just got festival rights, and the songs were so integral to the edit that replacing them either wasn't an option, or just wasn't worth the hassle.

Find an independent musician and do a buy-out sync/master license for their songs, all media, in perpetuity. $500 to $1,000 per song is totally fair and worth it. Trust me, when a filmmaker comes to us and the music is cleared, it makes our decision that much easier. Will you get a better distribution deal if you clear the music? Maybe not, but at least you'll have a better chance of actually GETTING a distribution deal, period.

 

[Paunch]

Here's a contract a record company sent me today....i'm not really quite sure I understand some of the info under #1. anyway, thought i'd share

In consideration of the sum mentioned in Part 1 and other good and valuable consideration, xxxxxx Records, (hereinafter referred to as “Licensor”) hereby grants to xxxxxx Entertainment, Inc., (hereinafter referred to as “Producer”) the non-exclusive irrevocable right and license to record the following copyrighted Master Recording in synchronization or timed relation with a photoplay made and primarily for feature film purposes by Producer for:..

• Production: XXX (directed by XXX) (hereinafter referred to as “The Motion Picture”)

Record Title: “xxxxxx”
Artist: xxxxxxx
Fee: i) Five Hundred US Dollars ($500) payable prior to general release
or upon execution of the agreement whichever the earlier
ii) One Point Two US Cents ($.012) per DVD manufactured
Territory: The World
License Term: Life of Copyright
Rights: i) Film Festivals, up to One Thousand (1,000) DVD units
ii) DVD units manufactured after initial One Thousand (1,000)
Usage: Background Music
Timing: XX:XX
Credit: Licensed courtesy of xxxx records

• The License hereinabove set forth is granted under the provision that no sounds only records produced pursuant to the said License are to be manufactured sold and/or used separately from the said photoplay.

• This License does not include the right to alter the fundamental character of the music or the Master, to use the title or subtitle of the Master as the title of any photoplay or to use the story of the Master.

• Licensor represents and warrants that it owns or controls the Master licensed hereunder and that it has the legal rights to grant this License and that Producer shall not be required to pay any additional monies except as provided in this License save for payments arising from the performance of the Masters and for payments to unions repeat fees etc and Producer specifically acknowledges that this License does not grant Producer any rights in the underlying composition featured on the Master Recording and Producer shall come to terms with the copyright owner in such Compositions and shall indemnify Licensor in respect of any liability in connection therewith and (for the avoidance of doubt) rights granted hereunder shall specifically exclude any interactive format or medium.

• Licensor shall indemnify and hold harmless Producer, its successors, assignees and licensees from and against any and all losses, damages, liabilities, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, actions, suits or other claims arising out of Producer’s exercise of such rights in any breach, in whole or in part of the foregoing representations and warranties reduced to judgment by court of competent jurisdiction or settled with Licensor’s consent, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld, Licensor shall reimburse Producer upon demand for any payment by Producer at any time with respect to such losses, damages, liabilities, attorney’s fees and costs, actions, suits or other claims to which the foregoing indemnity applies provided however that Licensor’s maximum liability hereunder (whether for one claim or an aggregate of more than one claim) shall not exceed and amount equal to the fee set out in Clause 1 above.

• Producer shall not have the power and authority to assign its rights and obligations under this License to any party whatsoever without Licensor’s consent. This License is binding upon and shall inure to the benefit of the respective successors and/or of the parties hereto.

This License shall be governed by and subject to the law of England.


AGREED AND ACCEPTED

 

[grinner]

Grinner is dewolfe a music licensing co.? and what exactly is a blanket fee? I've heard of it but wouldn't know how to go about obtaining one...

t

no, they are actually a music production house out of London. They do charge per needle drop but they allow blanket fees, which is one sum for an entire segment, shor or production. I pay one price ona production... then free use. I dont have to even keep track of the needle drops.
www.dewolfemusic.com

good dudes. As mentioned before, they'll haggle with ya.