MoonLab Music is launching its production music library the first week of November 2009!
I call it a library but it’s really more of a cooperative of composers who allow MoonLab to represent their work for TV, film, trailers, commercials, video games and any kind of media out there. The caliber of talent we’ve managed to compile has been nothing short of outstanding with really accomplished men and women from around the world contributing to the collection. And it is growing to such a point that we work some pretty long hours to keep pace with not only the licensing, but the numbers of artists wanting to be involved. These are good challenges to have.
To say we’re thankful for the response we’ve had to this venture is an understatement and the thing that’s astounding is how many really talented people there are out there. So we’re fortunate to have so much of their work represented on the site.
Being a composer myself, I’ve gotten to know many of them and we’ve assembled a team of talent, ready to do custom work in any genre day or night. That aspect of MoonLab has built itself out very quickly. The relationships have been really rewarding both strategically and personally. The variety of what can be done well, and done quickly, in our custom composition arm is amazing and has been in full-swing for the past month.
If you would like to stay in touch, come by our website and bookmark the page. And drop me a line if you’d like us to let you know when we launch. music@moonlabmusic.com
Sincerely,
Marc Jackson – owner/founder MoonLab Music
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When we create art we do it with one eye fixed dimly on the work, from the vantage point of our audience. We do art because it puts into form, deep emotions and perspectives that have to come out.
But communicating an art form isn’t quite as satisfying if it isn’t appreciated hopefully during our own lifetimes. We’d like for everyone to respond to that expression with favor, wonder and awe.
And that rarely happens. Actually it never happens that EVERYONE responds that way.
So we might bend our form a little bit for the sake of the masses. Or when you make music professionally like I do, you are almost always required to bend and even emulate forms that have little to do with your own expression.
So the trick there is to find the art of that. You still have to be truthful in your expression. It needs “heart” even when you work for hire. If you don’t, the work sounds sterile and lifeless.
Whether it be for a job or for just appealing to a large audience, bending our own expressions to that of a required theme or form, can be frustrating. But when we do, we’re in good company and there are good examples of how it can be done with integrity.
Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci might have been very familiar with the inner battle to remain inspired while being supported by the Roman Catholic Church for most of their works. “Christ, if I have to paint one more religious image!!…” You could say their day gig was working in marketing for religion. Still look at the work. Inspiring and transcendent.
Once can wonder what their art would have reflected had they been supported to create freely without requirements of form. Could it be that the work would have been sublimely rooted in the their minds and hearts down to the core? Imagine that!
Whenever you see a film or a television show where music is playing under a scene (nearly all of them), the music has been “cleared” or “licensed” for use in that scene. In many cases the music is scored by a composer who is under contract for that particular production, but many times the music is licensed from a third party. It could be a popular song that you have heard on the radio, an indie artist who is not so main-stream, or the music could be provided by a music library. (Insert shameless plug here) A music library like MoonLab Music.
We’ll focus on third parties for now and examine the components.
Regarding a song where clearance is concerned, the song has two “sides.” There’s the publishing side (aka “synchronization” or “sync”). Those who own the publishing side, control the creative content of a song. Think of the song’s publishing side as intellectual property.
Then there is the master side, which is the physical recording such as the CD or any digital file of that particular performance by an artist. For most pop artists for example, the master is owned by their record company. Confused yet?
Here’s how the two sides work. The songwriter of the song you want to clear might have a contract with a publisher of their music. The publisher manages the songwriter’s copyright of the material. On the master side, usually the record company manages the recorded version of the song. Not all artists have publishers and record companies, but understanding who these two players are for music clearance will help you have smarter conversations when you start looking for who does control the two sides of a piece of recorded music.
We’ve established that you must get permission from both the publisher and the record company in order to use a song with any kind of picture for broadcast.
Here’s an illustration of the difference between the two sides of a song.
Pull up any song in itunes. What you see in your playlist is a recorded master. What you hear when you play the song is the composition or the intellectual property that is copyrighted by the composer/songwriter.
If someone else covered that song, creating a new version, they would be creating a new master recording of it. However, the song’s publishing remains the same. If you want to license that new version, you would need to seek permission from the owner of the new master recording, as well as the original publisher.
So again, when you seek clearance of a song, both the publisher and the controllers of the master recording need to be contacted for pricing quotes.
To get permission from the publisher you are requesting to synchronize the composition to picture. This publishing clearance is commonly known as the sync license.
The permission from the owners of the master recording is just that: permission to use their master recording of the composition.
Who do you contact first? Call a professional music clearance person. If you don’t hire a pro, I would suggest having an entertainment lawyer look over the documentation. But if you are new to clearing music I would highly suggest you use someone with experience.
Prices are usually determined by the first entity contacted as an MFN (most favored nation) meaning the fee set by one entity is usually matched by the other. Most of the time the fees for each side of the clearance are the same. For example, if a quote is $35,000 a side, you can expect to pay $70,000 to clear the song because each side would be paid the 35k.
There are many variables to music clearance. A professional clearance person can get the best prices for you based on your clearance criteria. In addition, they have long-term relationships with representatives on both sides of the clearance process. Their knowledge and contacts could both help get the cost lower and ensure that the music is properly cleared the first time around. It can be very pricey to go back to these players for additional clearance, so being thorough the first time is crucial.
Contact MoonLab Music for more information regarding music clearance or any music questions or needs.
moonlab@sent.com
AIM: moonlabm
Advertising for a film more times than not, begins when a film is still in the throws of post production. The original score for the film is rarely completed when the marketing campaign begins so other music is used. It might be score from other films or production libraries like MoonLab Music providing existing cues for the trailers and TV promos. Popular music of songs you might hear on the radio are licensed for use in the pieces. Or music is created by composers like me.
When I get a call for a custom piece of music for a trailer there are several reasons why I get that call to do a particular piece.
One reason might be that an editor used music that would put the production over budget to license. In this case the new music would need to have some similar characteristics to what had been originally used. I then look at the original piece as a “temp track.” Temp tracks are still used quite a bit for feature films during the editing process. Normally temp tracks are not embraced by composers for film because emulating another composer’s work leaves little room for creativity in the new score.
But in this case with a trailer, it has become a problem-solving project for me and I set out to give the client a similar feel and sound quality of the music they currently like but would rather not pay top dollar for.
This is what is commonly known as a “knock-off.” For a composer, it CAN be a deflating process creatively if you are a purest and are only motivated to make an original footprint on everything one works on.
I look at it as a challenge because to do this well is an art in and of itself. You can’t really see it as creating a knock-off but instead what I like to call a “feel-alike.” And that is exactly what you might imagine. A piece of music that makes you feel similar emotions while staying compositionally away from the original piece. Using the former piece of music as inspiration rather than a model keeps the approach fresh and creates something original. Emulation is good. Copying is bad for a lot of reasons.
Another reason for custom work on trailers is when the client can’t find any piece of music that does exactly what they need it to do in order to reach the desired emotional and practical result. For example the client might like the pace and feel of some music but it isn’t bringing in any changes and is not dynamic enough for the editor to cut to. Creating a new piece of music that brings in the emotion of the original and also adds what the original piece didn’t have is the goal. Dynamic breaks or hits. “Stop downs” where the music drops out and crashes back in or possibly a nice build to include a dramatic climax might be the solution for making the new music more useful for driving an exciting trailer for the theaters.
Finally, the dream request for a composer is when a producer or editor asks you to score the trailer from scratch. In these cases, there is a continual interaction between all parties. The client, the editor, the producer and the composer, all working to create a look and feel to a trailer that is in the spirit of the film itself but is a production wholly unto itself designed for one thing. Enticing people to come see the film.
The key to being a desired commodity for custom work in film trailers is this. High quality at a speedy pace. Most of the time your work is back to back with film score from other films played by live orchestras. Or your work must flow smoothly into a pop track that had a music budget in the tens of thousands of dollars for recording that song. Whether you hire musicians or do everything in your private studio, the quality has to be that good. Much of my custom work is delivered in hours and by the end of a day it isn’t uncommon for me to have completed three or four revisions.
It’s not for everyone but the rewards creatively and financially are (most of the time) worth the effort.
Marc Jackson
www.marc-jackson.com
music@marc-jackson.com
AIM: moonlabm
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Why are some licensing fees so high?
For the past six or more years, music being used for television shows, films or in advertising has been cleared under this criterion. All media, worldwide, in perpetuity. This came about because of some of the newer media that original television shows did not foresee being developed later on.
Some TV shows that aired during the 80’s for example are yet to be released on DVD and in many cases they are held up because the music was originally only cleared for the airing of the show. They were not purposed for DVD, Blue Ray or other media distribution, modes of distribution that were not even imagined at the time the shows originally aired.
A good example of that was something I worked on. “Life Goes On” a popular show that aired originally in the late 80’s. As their theme song they used a re-recording of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” which was written by Lennon and McCartney and made hugely popular by the Beatles. I was hired to write and record a replacement theme song because licensing the Beatles song for each of the episodes would have been cost-prohibitive for even considering releasing the series on DVD. My theme entitled “Life Goes On” was probably a real surprise to hard-core fans of the show but fans would probably never have been able to own the series had the song not been replaced. Surprisingly most fans had some idea as to why the swap was made and were fairly forgiving.
One byproduct of this more recent standard of clearing music for all media now conceived or conceived of in the distant future are higher fees for licensing. Since one license fits all future purposing it makes sense that artists and even music libraries will charge more because that fee will be the last licesning fee they will ever see for that placement.
MJ
“Without music, life would be a mistake.” -” — — Friedrich Nietzsche