More and more, independent artists are breaking into the mainstream — and earningmoney – by licensing their music for use in television, commercials, film, and video games. But licensing isn’t an easy field to break in to, and the process can be difficult to understand.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

First things first: know the terminology. For a great glossary of Film and
 TV Music Placement Terms, including terms like “quoting” “public domain” and “AFM,” see this post from Taxi.com.

Now that you’ve reviewed the glossary and have some new vocab words under your belt, you’re ready to begin the licensing process. Here’s how:

1. Find a Music Supervisor: Music Supervisors are the people who put your music in TV, film, video games and more. Some of them work at agencies, while some are independent consultants. You’ll have to do your research and track them down.

2. Know Your Licenses: If supervisor is interested in licensing your music, you’ll need to know about the licenses offered. There are two types of licenses: master license and sync license.

• Master License is an agreement and fee, that allows your pre-existing, physical recording to be placed in a specific media (e.g. a scene for a TV show).
• Sync License is an agreement and fee, that allows your composition (the written lyrics and music) to be “synched” against moving picture.

3. Know Your Royalties: Money, money, money. There are two types of royalities: publisher and writer.

• If your music has a publisher, this portion goes to them – known as publisher royalties.
• Writer royalties are the portion that goes to the writers of the music.
• Other things like publishing rights, multiple publishers, multiple writers, etc will also determine royalty payout.

4. Sign an Agreement: Once you determine licensing fees and royalties, you need to make sure that whoever owns your song, wrote your song, and/or performed on your song, agrees to the license and signs an agreement.

Before you sign anything, make sure that you trust the people you’re working with – do your due diligence and ask around. Find out about the reputation of those you’re about to work with. Make sure that the deal you negotiated is in your best interest and that your music is going to be used in a way that you’re comfortable with.

Tell us what you think: Have you had your music licensed? How was the process?

The SongCast Crew