For any artist or musician, music licensing is very important. Jazz, pop, rock and roll, classical, fusion or any other genre ? take no differentiation in this regard. Keeping the rights for your work is of utmost importance. This is termed as licensing or copyrighting the work.
What Music Licensing Means
A music license means ‘protection and permission’ for the original work.
In simple terms, music licensing is all about creating an agreement that would be shared between the musicians, ideally the original creator and the one who would be using it. This accounts for permission to access the content and protection of the same from unauthorized use.
Each agreement would have to be made keeping the various situations in mind. The same, if tailor-made between the creator and its user, should not give rise to unpleasant surprises to any of the two teams later on. How the music is going to be used should be a vital part of the license.
Imagine a situation where a musician had got paid a certain amount for his music to be used as the theme in an advertisement. This later on gained popularity and an album was made out of it, of which millions of copies were sold. The amount he received may then be way too small in comparison to the revenue generated by the album. This is one of the things to keep in mind at the time of getting a license.
Benefits of Music Licensing
If a song or music piece is part of any film or album, an artist could use it as a platform to exhibit his talent and make the same popular. For the artist, this could be advantageous in many ways. With this, the artist could easily make a mark of his work in the industry he wishes.
The popularity of the song or music would undoubtedly enhance the demand for that song from the listeners. This would result in the advertisers, movie and TV show producers to seek permission from the artist to use his original piece of work. This makes the artist, an owner of his product, prevent discrepancies in making money or earning fame in the music industry.
When music is licensed before making it public, the chances of someone copying the same and obtaining a license on their name would be eliminated. This way the entire credit in making that music piece a success will go to the person who deserves it.
This is one among the important groundwork that goes in as a part of music licensing. It is a good practice of protecting the work and the originality of the creation by its composer. A music license would favorably outline how the same would be used and how much it is worth.
Guest post: Lily is an expert associated with Global Groove. You can visit their catalogue to gain more information about their products and services.
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Interesting, although the really difficult part is getting someone interested enough to license the sog into an audiovisual work. It’s a daunting prospect, as one realises quite quickly just how much music is out there and the competitive level of professional musicians.
I agree, you raise a good point and I would add that this is the case in a majority of music related fields. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pursue any of those avenues if it seems like the right path for your music. Thank you for the comment.