There are numerous music libraries that sell music licenses on behalf of composers, each with their own proprietary license agreements and procedures. Let’s look at the different types:
Royalty Free Music (Staffed with A&R)
These businesses have staff that carefully listen to and select royalty free music for their catalogue. It is fair to say that the reputable businesses in this sector are home-grown by people who care about fairness to composers.
The term A&R (Artists and Repertoire) originates from the mainstream industry. Each library’s A&R person will select music suited to their clientele and enter into a contractual agreement with the composer or publisher.
This agreement allows the music library to sell licenses of the composer’s music and the composer benefits with a percentage split on sales, typically 40 to 60%.
Benefits to the music user include:
- Affordable music
- Accessibility to staff
- Good quality hand-picked music
- Library has a direct relationship with the composer
- Supports a fair pay structure
License types
Royalty free music licenses are always unique to the company but will typically cover synchronisation, mechanical and in some cases performance royalties.
Many royalty free music libraries request that documentation (cue sheets) be completed for TV and Radio broadcast.
Who would this suit?
This would suit small, medium and large companies looking for quality music that want certain assurances about its origins and access to staff if help is required.
Royalty Free Music (User Generated)
These businesses are typically bigger companies who are mainly concerned with revenue. Most of these user generated libraries have been created on the back of larger businesses or with investment capital.
The model allows anyone to join and upload content hence the user generated term. There is no quality control and no vetting; these libraries are designed for bulk rather than quality.
Sometimes, music on these sites may contain Content ID (sometimes referred to as digital fingerprinting) that will trigger adverts on YouTube etc. (more about this in later post).
The composer deals are usually less favourable and can be as low as 20%
Benefits to the music user include:
- Affordable music
- An abundance of user generated content
License types:
Royalty free, always unique to the company but will typically cover synchronisation and mechanical.
Who would this suit?
Students or individuals, who are looking for lower prices and don’t mind ads appearing on their YouTube videos (more about this later).
Production Music Libraries
Conventional production music libraries have a select group of composers, usually signed to them exclusively. Music can be licensed directly or via conventional royalty collecting societies.
Licenses are typically more expensive depending on where and how long the music will be used. Additionally, you may have to deal with external royalty collecting societies.
Benefits to the music user include:
- Exclusive music
- High quality music
- Long established businesses with staff
- Although an expensive way, you may get extra assurances / exclusivity that some large clients are prepared to pay a premium for.
License types
Usually you buy a sync license that will be limited by use, project or by time. The performance and mechanical element of the license will usually have to be arranged independently by you with the royalty collecting society in your part of the world.
Who would this suit?
Broadcasters who already have license agreements in place with royalty collecting societies and want strong assurances for their large blue chip clients.
Mainstream Music Licensing
If you wish to use a mainstream track, it is possible but very expensive and much more difficult to arrange.
To arrange this type of license you need to contact the music publisher or deal with a music rights clearance company who will contact the various publishers and royalty collecting societies on your behalf.
Benefits to the music user include:
- Use of known mainstream music
- Although very expensive, you may get extra assurances that some large clients are prepared to pay a premium for.
License types
The license type will be tailored to the specific requirements of your project.
Who would this suit?
Production companies working with big name clients who want specific assurances included in the music license and have a large budget to facilitate it.
This is intended as an overview of the different types of music libraries and will hopefully give you a better understanding of how they work. Remember though that each library will have its own terms and procedures for licensing their music so if you are not sure about anything you should contact the company.
Please ask if you have any questions about our royalty free music and feel free to share this post if you found it useful.
Read next post in this guide: Terminology
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