TV Music Licensing pays songwriters and composers differently than Film Music Licensing does. Most songwriters don't know that, and they ask me the question pretty frequently! The short answer is "yes, it pays differently," in the U.S. In the United States, composers of scores, background music and featured songs do NOT get paid when the music is played in a movie theater. In other words, there's no back end, no performance royalty for music played in theaters. But there IS a performance royalty for theater play in many, if not most other countries. So, while you won't get an ASCAP,...

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How to Choose the Right Music Licensing Companies It seems like so many songwriters and artists have given up on the dream of getting a record deal with major record label. Flying around on private jets and trashing hotel rooms is a dream now long forgotten. Film and TV placements are the new "record deal." Most musicians don't know how to choose the right music licensing company or companies, because they haven't done their homework yet. They haven't learned how to know which company has the best chance of getting them a film or TV placement period, and they often...

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Film and TV Music Licensing Opportunities For Independent Musicians Running opportunities for Film and TV placements in our Music Industry Listings back in 1992 made me the laughing stock of the music business. It was unheard of for Indie artists and songwriters to get their songs placed in network TV shows or better yet, feature films put out by major Hollywood studios back then. Nobody seemed to know much about Production Music Libraries (which are Film & TV music publishers) - what they did, how they worked, or what kind of music they needed to license to TV or Film...

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Giving Your Tracks the Right Title Can Get Your Music in More Films and TV Shows You might think that writing great songs and instrumentals is the best way to license more of your music. You could be right, but here's a really simple tip that I'll bet you never thought of -- give your songs and tracks better titles that make them easier to find. Imagine that you're a music supervisor searching for music to license for a Television Show or Movie. As you type in your database query, "uptempo, male, country, instrumental," trying to find the perfect track...

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I recently had a member of TAXI's forum ask what the difference was between a production music library and a music publisher. Great question! Here's the answer I posted: Production Music Libraries and Publishers are both publishers, and it's my observation that the best music libraries get most of their best placements by doing hand to hand combat -- meaning that they develop relationships and actively pitch. Another observation is that Film and TV music supervisors really don't like to search databases for music. They'd rather email or call a human, have them cull a few tracks they think would...

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