How to license music for TV commercials and soundtracks

Rob E

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Hallo people of Adtunes! New member with some questions that I hope aren't asked all time...

I basically work with some friends and we've set up a company with record label and artist management branches, and more recently tho- we've started a bespoke music composition service. Now we've had a couple of loose jobs here and there but we're finding it really difficult to link up with people and find work.

Does anyone know of a good place to link up with some people looking for tv/radio ad music an' ting?

I'd be very appreciative of any advice anyone had to share ;]
 
I think you might find more useful help/info looking at more industry-related websites, such as Adforum.com and Wheresspot.com. Wheresspot has an active Yahoo Discussion Group, and a lot of industry related info/links in their Yahoo Group's Links section.
 
Hello out there,

I have a large catalog of masters which are instrumental cover versions of popular songs. Many would be perfect for TV commercials.

What is the best way to go about licensing them to TV commercials? Where can get a list of clients to pitch my master to? Who should I contact at the ad agencies?

I do not control the publishing, but the covers are not derivative works and I have contractually obtained the rights to license these masters to 3rd parties.


Any suggestions would be greatly appretiated.

Thanks!

Kennedy
 
Originally posted by Kenedy@Mar 2 2006, 02:51 PM
I do not control the publishing, but the covers are not derivative works and I have contractually obtained the rights to license these masters to 3rd parties.
You'll need publishing rights as well, no?
 
I don't have the publishing and I know that the ad agencies have to obtain sync licenses from the publishers, but publishers are in the business of licensing there songs. It is more of a hassle to obtain sync licenses, but you have a better chance of getting a publisher to say "yes" then the a record label who controls the original masters. I have alternative versions - string quartet and electronic versions. I know that they are applicable to the advertising world.

I'm looking for a list of advertising agencies to pitch music to.
 
Does anyone have any suggestions of how to get in contact with the music supervisors who place all this great music in these commercials? In calling the ad agencies directly, they aren't very forthcoming.

Thanks for any help you can provide.
 
anyone know how much i should be paid for about a minutes worth of music for an add on US cable?
would love some advice.

thanks
 
Hi,

On the off chance that there are some musicians/ad spot composers lurking on here, I thought I'd ask if anyone here knows what kind of post houses or agencies handle the people who create these ad spots, or simply where these musicians tend to come from.

I live in Los Angeles and am a very malleable type of composer/orchestrator. keys/strings, acoustic/electric guitars, all types of sounds and genres. I'm a lifelong musician and I've done spots for web media and film shorts and such. I'm sure it's next to impossible to get into this area of work, but I always knew I'd be great at it.

I really would love to take a shot at proving myself. Still, at a certain point in life, one sadly begins to realize that maybe the things they're best at are the hardest to attain. Lol.

Anyone know anything about the industry of commercial/promo music? Resources, advice?

Thanks in advance for reading.

Sincerely,
Ben
 
How to Make a Commercial TV Music Demo Reel...

Is there a standard way to do this?
Should it be audio only or syncd to a commercial?

And then how should I send it.. directly to their email or as a link?

thanks
 
Jingle for Cell phone company

Hello,

I love lyrics and melodies as most of you probably do. They haunt me! However, I wrote a song specifically for a cell phone company. But, I have no clue as to how I would submit it? Years ago I had written a jingle for a large retailer only to discover they didn't return calls. :( Oh well.

My question to anyone would be: How do we get our work heard? I'm beginning to believe we have to be someone. Thank you for any suggestions that might give me a little hope.

;)
 
Hi..I feel the same way. My head is full of great lyrics with melodies. Sadly, I believe it's WHO YOU KNOW in the creative line of business. Alot of material I hear in commercials is okay, but, alof of it could be better. Oh well. Best of luck. :)
 
I *do* work in the advertising audio world, and for all the wistful hopefuls here, I'll give you a little primer:

Ad agencies usually get the music for their ads either from stock music (production library music that was written on spec and supplied in bulk for the agencies to choose tracks from) or from commercial music houses that specialize in music for ads. These music houses, in turn, usually have a group of composers who write on demand, often on very short time lines, e.g. the producer at the music house might get briefed on Tuesday and the agency expects to hear music tracks on Friday. These tracks will have to sound pretty much finished and ready to go on air, so the skill level of the composers is very high. (Having a tune in your head is just the first step - if you don't know how to play, arrange and mix all the parts in your recording studio, you have more training to do before being hired by one of these companies)

For those who have a song that they believe will be perfect for a certain company, the only people who make a decision about an advertising direction to present to that company will be their advertising agency. For legal reasons, all major companies will refuse to accept unsolicited submissions - they don't want to be defending themselves in a lawsuit where someone claims they sent an unsolicited song/picture/movie/idea and later saw/heard it in an ad. Often, that brilliant idea you had to advertise x product emphasizes a different feature than the one they want to push right now, so they won't be interested no matter how good an idea it is.

If you are a good composer with a professional home recording system, your best bet is to contact commercial music houses (or stock music companies) and ask if you can submit samples of your work. If you're good, they might take you on as one in their 'stable' of composers.

I hope all this is helpful (and not too downbeat for those who don't fall into that last category!) and answers some of your 'wonderings.'

Sonny
 
Help with finding publishers

new here to the forums and im looking for a little help.
Ok so I've been making music for a while now, i'm pretty confident that I make some good tunage.
Im ready and have hundreds of high quality jingles already made, im ready to start selling this stuff, where do I go? I want some good money for the stuff I've made because I know it's worthy and could be used in movies - tv - video games w/e
help please?
 
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