Industry Insights: How production music licensing is changing

What changes are we seeing on the licensing front?

“Not surprisingly we are seeing more and more licenses for internet only and internet being added to traditional media licenses,” said Mendelsohn. “We are also seeing more program licenses for All Media Ex Theatrical (AMXT) in perpetuity as many of the other types of clearances are becoming obsolete.”

“The biggest changes in licensing lie in identifying and setting a price for all the new and different types of uses that are constantly cropping up with new media distribution channels,” said Koch.

“Our licensing is dominated by internet clearances. We’ve added clearances for internet content and internet advertising,” said Hall.

“For one thing, there are many more productions being produced that need music, such as the social media platforms question just posed. Many content producers are needing media clearances that cover all platforms. All Media Rights,” said Agent.

“In addition, there are many more content creators that may not be familiar with music licensing. It is important to partner with a company that can assist their clients with licensing requirements and laws to ensure that the content being created is fully cleared,” added Hall.

“Here at Stephen Arnold Music, we’re actually seeing a re-fragmentation of rights, believe it or not. Whereas, in the past, we would often field requests for ‘all media’ which may have just been TV and Radio. But now, with OTT, digital programming (YouTube channels, etc…), promotional campaigns for social, and any number of other uses – clearing all media is overkill in many cases,” said Arnold. “We can tailor a license for the specific use of the client which keeps licensing costs down while protecting our own music copyright.”

Click here to read part one of our Industry Insights production music roundtable and stay tuned for our Production Music Podcast.

Participants

Mark Agent – Warner/Chappell Production Music
Whitney Arnold – Stephen Arnold Music
Aaron Gant – Warner/Chappell Production Music
Anna Maria Hall – Killer Tracks
Alex Koch – VideoHelper
Ron Mendelsohn – Megatrax

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[focus-on]This article is part of our Focus On Music, presented by Killer Tracks. View more from the series here.[/focus-on]