Lights! Camera! Music!.

• Author: Pang, Gregory

September 1, 2020By Gregory Pang

For over a century, music has been used in film to not only enhance the viewing experience, but it has become very much an integral part of the film. For example, it is hard to imagine watching Star Wars without the score by legendary composer John Williams. Songs, by especially popular artists, can also rise to become the proverbial flag-bearers of a film. Think "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor in Rocky II or, even though it makes me gag mentioning it, "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion in Titanic.

Aspiring filmmakers know of the power of using music in their projects. In these times of COVID-19, you might be more tempted to add music to your video content that you are making more and more for virtual classrooms, seminars and conferences. But how can you legally use music in your films and video projects? Unfortunately, the answer is not very straight-forward.

I attended a music licensing workshop a couple years ago by Elizabeth Klinck, who is a very competent researcher and music supervisor for hire. She described the system of licensing music for film as "Byzantine." And she's not wrong. Different types of rights need to be licensed depending on the music you are using, such as an existing recorded song, an existing song for which you want to record your own rendition, or a new song you want to have written and recorded. For sake of reference, "song" refers to a musical work whether or not it includes vocals.

1. Using an Existing Recording of a Song

   Let us say you really like Taylor Swift and you think her latest hit "Cardigan" would work amazingly in your short film. You would need to obtain not one, but two licences.

   The first of those is a synchronization licence ('sync licence') to reproduce the music "in timed relation" with your audio-visual work. Here, the songwriters or composers are giving you permission to use the song in your film. You would track down, or hire a music supervisor to track down, which big label(s), e.g. Universal Music Group, administers the publication rights on each of those songwriters' behalf and their respective percentage ownership of those rights. You would then try to negotiate a fee for the sync licence that would fit into your budget and based on how you are planning to use the song. Then the publisher(s) would prepare their standard sync licence agreements for all parties to sign. But you are unlikely to even get that far for a Taylor Swift song, unless you have a...