How To License Your Music For Use in TV Shows

Music is everywhere. Even people who don’t collect or seek it out with the passion of a teenager hopped up on goofballs are surrounded by music in their everyday life. It’s omnipresent. In restaurants, retail stores, TV, movies, video games, live sporting events, streaming services, the radio, the elevator, church… You get the idea.

Have you ever wondered how musicians and bands get their music in all these places? It’s a magical process called Music Licensing, and I’m going to walk you through a quick and dirty primer to help you understand the process.

For simplicity’s sake, we’re going to assume you have a band that writes and records your own music. Let’s call your group, the Lightning Bugs. Wait, let’s make it cooler by spelling it weird. How about LGHTNG BUGZ?

Great.

LGHTNG BUGZ just wrote and recorded some new songs and released them on Spotify, iTunes, and all the other usual streamy/downloady places. You and your bandmates toast your accomplishment with low-quality canned beer and gleefully wait for the micro pennies to roll in.

After weeks of this, your drummer, Barry, asks you, “Why ain’t we rich, yet, boss?”

I don’t know why Barry talks like a 1920s thug. Maybe he was dropped on his head. That’s not the point.

The point is you could be making more money from those songs if you were to license them for use in movies, television shows, web series, video games, live events, etc.

First, you need to work out some details.

Think of a song like a pie that is cut into two equal, tasty pieces. One side of the pie belongs to the Writer and the other belongs to the Publisher. In addition to being delicious, the Writer side gets what’s known as a “Master Use Right” and the Publisher side gets a “Synchronization Right.” Once a song is written it is automatically covered under the Copyright Act and is assigned both rights without you having to lift a finger.

You can still file formal copyright through the US Copyright Office (and you should if you want to have airtight protection), yet, the intricacies of copyright law are far beyond the scope of this article. Just know you don’t need to do anything for your songs to be protected by the Copyright Act. It’s built in.

Now that you understand this, let’s get back to your band. LGHTNG BUGZ are a four-piece band consisting of a guitarist, a bassist, a singer, and a drummer. You write all your own music and don’t use any samples from other songs (because, frankly, that would make this whole article 40 times longer and more complicated). You write songs together and have agreed that you all share equal writing credit.

Due to your fair and straightforward agreement, each one of you controls 25% of the Writer’s share of the songs. Likewise, you all control 25% of the Master Use Right to the songs.

You also agree to split the Publisher’s side of your songs equally, just like the Writer’s side. Each of you controls 25% of the Publishing and likewise 25% of the Synchronization Right (“Sync” or “Synch” for short) to the songs.

By the way, it’s called a “master” because in the olden days, before digital, there was one master copy of the music that was used to “affix” it to various media (vinyl, 8-track, cassette, CD, wax cylinder, etc.). In today’s digital world it’s easiest to think of the master as the actual recording of the music (whether it be a WAV, MP3, AIFF, whatever).

LGHTNG BUGZ don’t have a record label who footed the bill for the recording studio in exchange for control over the master recordings of their songs. Nor do you have a deal with a publishing company. This usually IS the case with major label artists, but you guys do it all yourself like any self-respecting 21st-century band in control of their own destiny.

For a more in-depth explanation of music publishing, I recommend The Plain and Simple Guide to Music Publishing by Randall D. Wixen. Many intricacies of music publishing don’t necessarily apply for an indie band like LGHTNG BUGZ. Yet, as you get bigger and more opportunities come your way it pays to be as knowledgeable as possible.

Since LGHTNG BUGZ are D.I.Y. ‘till you die and you self-release all your own music, you control the rights to the recording itself (the Writer’s side/Master Use Right). You can press that recording in vinyl for the hip kids or release it to the netherworld of the digital streaming matrix. You can also grant a license to a third party to use it in a TV show because you also control the Publisher’s side and Synchronization Rights.

The reason this is important is that you need both sides (Writer/Master and Publisher/Sync) to sign a license agreement for a song to be used in, say, an episode of the new hit TV sitcom, The Gardener at the Zoo.

The easy way to explain this to your dimwitted drummer is, “Listen, Barry, think of the Master Use License as the Writer’s side granting use of the actual recording and the Synchronization License as the Publisher’s side granting use of the song itself (the lyrics, melody, written music, structure, etc.).”

Barry will say, “Jeez, boss. That IS simple!”

Simple, indeed, Barry.

To get your song on the new episode of The Gardner at the Zoo, you sign a legal agreement that grants the producers permission to use the recording of your new song “Butternut Highway” (the Master Use License) and the actual musical composition (the Synchronization License) of the song itself. If it’s a good agreement, it will also include some upfront money for the licenses.

License Agreements for Fun and (Sometimes) Profit
Each production will have its own budget for music and as such the money to license your work will vary considerably. Payment can be anywhere from nothing (also known as a “gratis” license) to several thousand (or tens or hundreds of thousands) of dollars. It’s all up in the air, and it is well within your rights to negotiate a favorable payout. Just know, if you’re a pain in the ass or unreasonable the music supervisor will just look elsewhere. Speaking of…

What the Heck is a Music Supervisor?
I’m so glad you asked.

A music supervisor’s job is to work with the director and/or the producer to find music that fits the creative vision of the project, then execute licenses for said music. Their job is both artistic and administrative as they also work to identify and clear the legal processes for all the parties involved. Sometimes this can be many, many writers and many, many publishers. Just look at a recent Beyonce song. There are, like, 40 writers credited on some of them. This is why music supervisor’s love bands like LGHTNG BUGZ. You’re what’s known as a “one-stop.” Since the band controls all the Writing and Publishing of your songs, it would be easy to “flip” or “clear” a song for a music supervisor to use.

I recently conducted an interview with Ben Hochstein, a freelance music supervisor with more than 15 years experience in music placement and clearance for scripted, reality, and live programming. Some of Ben’s career highlights include work on shows for Netflix, Paramount, TV Land, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Bravo, NBC, ESPN, CMT, TBS, the WWE, NBCSN, MTV and more. If you’re interested in hearing more about this wild world of music supervision, you can listen here: https://bit.ly/2LLwK0E

Well, there you have it. A quick and dirty guide to licensing your music. You are now well on your way to that fancy house in the Hills and a brand new Tesla S (complete with Insane Mode). Now, go forth and create (and license) more music!

Idiots With Instruments is a podcast that explores many facets of indie music making.