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Finding a Film and TV Music Licensing Company - For Independent Recording Artists

Submitted by Teo Graca | RSS Feed | Add Comment | Bookmark Me!

For independent artists looking to earn revenue from their music, this is a great idea, but what benefits should they look for from a music licensing company offer?

Music Licensing

Most of the companies I have reviewed offer a 50/50 split. Sounds OK, right? But what are they going to do? How do you know they are doing it? Are you wasting your time? Here are a few things to think about.

  • You want to get paid, right?
  • You want to get noticed, right?
  • You want to know the company is working for you, right?

Well, if the company offers audit features that provide all of the above information BEFORE asking for your music, you are on the right track in finding a good music licensing company.

Look for features that tell you the company is working for you, your music is getting noticed, and you are getting paid. You can recognize the ones that don't do this if their offer is simply, "Give Us Your Music - here is the commission structure."

Can you recognize this type of offer? There's no real value offered.... no stated way that they are going to allow you to track (audit) anything.

A reputable music licensing company will at least offer these auditing features and really great ones offer other news on their websites about their successes. Look for a focus on the music buyer, as opposed to a focus on the artist.

NOTE: A reputable music licensing company should be focused on selling music, not acquiring music.

If you don't see offers in these terms, you might want to think in these terms. I have demonstrated some of the features offered by reputable music licensing companies below in terms of questions you might have about the results of their efforts.

Music Licensing - Get Promoted

1. How many people viewed my music page?

Hopefully you will get a music page... how else is your music going to be promoted? I could imagine maybe a private meeting behind the scenes, but now you are talking about more of a management role, instead of a music licensing company. This is a major distinction. Reputable music licensing companies provide an artist page on their websites that allow potential buyers (everybody) a chance to hear your music.

NOTE: There are a lot of potential buyers out there that will not register or log in to hear new music, so the above feature should not require this. It's easy enough to add social media sharing features with counters that you can easily see, and there are music players everywhere that allow you or your music licensing company to host files anywhere and present a player and buy now button on their websites.

2. How many "plays" are each of my tracks getting?

This information could be made available to just you or everyone and is easy to track. Wouldn't you like to know? If a music licensing company is doing it's job, it is getting your music out there and promoted, and it is getting played - you are getting listeners!

NOTE: If you see 1,000 listens and no buys. It's a sign that you or the music publishing company needs to tweak your sales pitch to music buyers. If nothing else, it shows your music is popular.

Music Licensing - Revenue

3. How much money have I earned?

Again, this information could be made available only to you, or everyone and is easy to track. There are actually ways to split revenue in the buy now process so that payments go to the music licensing company and to you with one buy now process from the buyer.

NOTE: Some music publishing companies simply provide the technology that does all these things, you pay a monthly fee, and payment goes directly to you - you get 100%. Music licensing companies, by definition don't do it this way. So, here's another thought.

4. Do they have any qualification process?

Do they say up front that they don't accept everything that comes to them? I can't imagine a music licensing company promoting every artist that comes by. Ideally, you would want a music licensing company that specializes in your style of music - one that has a market for it. This tells buyers what to expect up front and says "We only select the best - we won't waste your time as a buyer!" It also helps the artist. A rapper doesn't necessarily want to be bunched in with a collection of country artists, right? Know their buyers before you submit your files.

NOTE: If a music licensing company promotes all styles, they should have a way to present artist pages per music style. They shouldn't be annoying rap buyers with country music or visa vera, right?

Think about it. You send off your MP3 files off to some site that claims they are a music licensing company, and then what? Don't know? If the site does not explain it in detail, don't waste your time. I see a lot of 50/50 split claims out there, but what are these music licensing companies going to do? So many just don't tell you... they say absolutely nothing... "Give me your music! 50/50 split!" - that say nothing to me...

Most artists don't think like this, but if a music licensing company does not offer the basic features described above, or at least present some successes you can verify, they are suspect to me.

I have designed and am in the process of building some radio station software that does all of the above and can easily generate a music licensing offer PER SONG played! It could be used by music licensing companies or artists looking to market their own music. You can even create and schedule announcements and commercials. With this system, music buyers can simply load the page and listen for hours while working on something else, and if they hear something that may be of use, they can just look at the web page and click on a button for licensing information.

If you are a music licensing company or artist interested in using this system, I am interested in working with you. I am very interested in your questions, and am using them to tweak the system into something better every week, so please get in touch with me. I really want to know what you want so I can add that in, or at least track the most requested features already in the design!

Teo Graca

Connect with me on LinkedIn at:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/teograca

PS - music licensing is almost always (unless there is big money involved) NON-EXCLUSIVE!. Avoid EXCLUSIVE licensing offers like the plague, unless it involves some kind of potential retirement plan.

Click for Details --> Music Licensing Info. <--


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