Music is a huge part of civilization. Centuries had passed, but the music survived and even grew to greater heights every decade. In fact, the demand for music has risen very steadily over the past 10 years and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. It comes along with the huge amount of revenue the music industry currently earns year after year. It is an unstoppable force as people are always looking for the next great artist around the corner, thus continuing the cycle and relevance of music. The demand for music content is at an all-time high. Worldwide revenue from music since the turn of the century has remained constant. The currency is measured in billions.
As technology grew, music became more technical, complex, and in demand. Others take credit for using music that doesn’t belong to them. Today, independent musicians are conscious of protecting their work for legal purposes. Through the music license, you can be sure that your asset / work is legally protected.
What are music licenses? The music license is the license that is used for copyrighted music. This allows the music owner to retain the copyright to their original work. It also ensures that the owner of the musical work is compensated if his music is being used by others. Music licensing companies have limited rights to use the work without separate agreements. In music licensing, you can license your work in the form of music, composition, and songwriting.
During the music licensing process, there are terms that would be discussed by the groups involved. If you are a freelance musician, you would be the licensor. You are responsible for the music created, therefore you are the copyright owner of the licensed work. A licensee would be the music licensing company, as they would be the one that will distribute their work to other industries. They will also collect royalty fees and distribute them to you if your music is featured in live performances, TV shows, commercials, campaigns, video games, etc.
There are also two types of contracts in music licensing, namely exclusive contract and non-exclusive contract. The exclusive contract means having your work exclusively licensed to a single music licensing company. Only one company has the authority to distribute and market your work. If you signed an exclusive deal for your song or album, you can’t use the same music content and get signed by other music licensing companies. The agreement is exclusive and confidential for the licensor and the licensee.
The non-exclusive contract allows a second party to distribute your work and does not prohibit the licensor from selling your music to other companies or music licensees. A freelance musician can sign a non-exclusive contract with multiple companies that use the same music content. Non-exclusive contracts are generally used to prevent a person from being locked into a restrictive contract before their work gains popularity. This type of contract is designed to protect musical artists from being taken advantage of in the early stages of their respective careers while they are in the process of bringing their music to a wider audience.
There are also cases that involve direct payment for used music content. This is called sync fees. Synchronization fee is a license granted by the holder of a copyrighted music to allow the licensee to synchronize the music with visual media such as commercials, movies, TV shows, movie trailers, video games, etc. For example, a video producer has a great need for music content for a certain project and is in a limited time to find one.
In these cases, the artist and the music licensing company will be contacted directly for the possible use of the original work and to negotiate the initial payment involved. Synchronization fees can range from a few dollars to a couple hundred dollars or up to thousands. The payment generally depends on how large and established the company is. If it is a well-known company, there is a chance that the sync fee will increase in value.
We need to understand that companies today are paying a premium for music at an all time high. The influx and revenue generated in different industries is worth billions of dollars and the music artists who got their music license will get a big chunk of that money. The content of the music is very important. All businesses need audio and visual content. You can’t do commercials, shows, and movies without having music content.
Music licenses offer compensation for the assets used. This is called royalty fees. A royalty rate is the payment charged by one party to another for the continued use of a copyrighted asset. You can receive compensation if your work appears in public live performances. For every live use of your music, you are compensated as you own the copyright to your work.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) raised more than $ 941 million in licensing fees and distributed $ 827.7 million in royalties to its members in 2014. BMI, on the other hand, raised more than $ 1,013 billion dollars. in licensing fees and distributed more than $ 877 million in royalties to its members during 2015.
Music licenses are the modern way to earn money through music. In recent years, physical sales had dropped. Music streaming has taken over because it is more convenient and practical with the help of the World Wide Web. With streaming sales increasing, the figures that could be collected as royalty fees could increase in the coming years. In fact, as stated on an Australian financial review website, streaming generated $ 2.5 billion in US music sales last year, surpassing digital downloads as the industry’s largest source of revenue. of the music. As indicated in the image below, global music streaming is projected to reach greater heights in terms of revenue in the coming years.
The Internet was a major contributor to the rise in music licensing and streaming. 20 years ago, music distribution wasn’t exactly that great. TV shows and filmmakers are the top two industries that need music content. Today, there are more and more TV shows, movies, commercials, movies, commercials, and tons of video games that need music content. It’s safe to say that the internet opened the public’s eyes to the opportunities that lie behind it.
One of the most visited sites in the world is YouTube. People use, duplicate, rework, copy, revise, and perform music by different artists from around the world. It also has a large number of ads that contain music content. To track all this data, YouTube has a content identification system. If your music is licensed, you can contact this site and they will review your data and see if other parties are using your work. As a licensor, you have the authority to take actions such as muting the audio that matches your music, blocking an entire video from being viewed, tracking the video’s audience statistics, or monetizing the video by serving ads on it. Each country has different rules in this regard. But YouTube runs a lot of ads and it is very likely that it will monetize the work of this site.
If you are a freelance musician, you must improve and instill professionalism in your craft to have the opportunity to be hired by a music licensing company. With billions of dollars of revenue involved today, you want at least a slice of the pie. Monetizing your passion is never easy, but taking the steps necessary to make it work is imperative to your success.
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