10 TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL DEMO SUBMISSIONS AND MUSIC LICENSING FOR FILM AND TELEVISION
From Film Music Network - www.filmmusic.net
1. PUT YOUR NAME, CONTACT EMAIL AND PHONE BOTH ON YOUR CD CASE AND ON YOUR CD.
We received the following email today from one of our clients which vividly demonstrates why you should do this:
========================
Dear Film Music:
Last year I placed a JobWire posting to solicit music
for a television series I do the music supervision on.
One of the songs I would like to use is by an artist
named Sarah McDougall. I know her music was sent to me
through the posting but I have now misplaced the cover
of the CD and I have NO idea how to contact her to
process the license. Would you have any contact
information there?
(well-known TV Music Supervisor)
========================
Well, if you're Sarah McDougall or her rep, please contact us right away and we'll put you in touch with a music supervisor who is ready to license your music immediately!
As it is with television, this music supervisor is on an extremely short timetable and unless he gets this info within a day or so, Sarah's tune probably won't get placed. This also demonstrates another interesting phenomenon about film and television music placements:
2. DON'T ASSUME THAT EVERYBODY MOVES AS FAST AS YOU'D LIKE THEM TO
We checked, and the original JobWire our music supervisor client above was talking about was published in May of 2004. Since then, he's been referencing submissions from our members on a regular basis. So as you send out your packages, you're planting seeds which might bear fruit many months from the original submission date. This brings to mind another handy tip...
3. CONSIDER A "PERMANENT" PHONE NUMBER
Most people have hundreds if not thousands of demos out in circulation having sent them out over many years. Interestingly, some "old" demos may come back to life again if they end up in the hands of people who need music for film and television. If your old demos have old, outdated phone numbers on them, that can be a big problem. When film & TV people are ready to move on licenses, it usually happens very quickly and by phone.
We've teamed with Kall8 to provide a special service to our members. Check out Kall8's phone number selection at:
fusion.kallback.com/kall8/enter.cfm
With Kall8, you can get a toll-free or local number and via the Internet map it to whatever phone number is best for you to receive calls at. If you want to change what number your permanent number rings through to, just sign on to your Kall8 admin page and change the number - it's that easy.
Another benefit of toll free numbers is that it doesn't make it immediately obvious where you are located (some people are concerned about being perceived as "out of towners") and it doesn't cost your clients to call you.
4. DON'T USE SLIMLINE CD CASES
Slimline CD cases (those thin, transparent cases) are low cost and nice looking, but have one major drawback - when they're placed in a stack or on a shelf like books, they disappear. There's no place for a spine label so if a music supervisor wants to find your CD again, it can mean a big search through many CDs. Use standard transparent jewel cases and make sure there's a spine label so your name shows through in BIG LETTERS through the spine, so when the CD is stored, you're easy to find.
5. DON'T SUBMIT TOO MUCH MUSIC
Submitting more than 10 tracks on a CD means they probably won't all get listened to. Sometimes people send multiple CDs loaded with music - most clients don't have the time or interest in previewing hours of music, so be strategic and send your best stuff.
6. DON'T SUBMIT MUSIC THAT'S NOT ASKED FOR TO TRY AND DEMONSTRATE THAT YOU'RE VERSATILE
Music supervisors and filmmakers are looking for specific types, genres, and styles of music. Trying to submit music that isn't a good fit for the requested music can be frustrating for the filmmaker or music supervisor (they often feel it's a waste of time), and can flag your future submissions as CDs to avoid. Submit music that's on target, and put your best foot forward.
7. AVOID EDITS OF MUSIC WITH LONG/REPETITIVE INTROS
As our clients listen to CDs, they report that often the first 5-10 seconds of a track will determine whether or not they find it interesting/compelling enough to listen to the rest of the track, or hit "skip". Long, slow, and/or repetitive intros can be a sure way to *not* grab a listener's attention. If your tracks do have these intros, consider creating edits of them for submission purposes with the intro shortened or eliminated.
8. BE EASY TO DO BUSINESS WITH, KNOW YOUR BUSINESS, AND BE READY TO DO BUSINESS
When it comes to music placements, clients want easy, one-stop licensing in many cases. Remember that there generally are 2 separate, independent copyrights on every piece of music. A music copyright (generally owned by a publishing company) on the underlying music and a sound recording copyright on each recording of the music (generally owned by a record company). It's your job to make it easy for a client to get both a sync license (with the music's publisher) and a master license (with the owner of the sound recording) to cover both of the copyrights on a piece of music. If you don't own both copyrights on your music, make sure that clients that are interested in your music can be easily put in touch with both copyright owners quickly, and that those copyright owners are ready to license in fast-turnaround situations. And perhaps most importantly of all, be READY to do business... If a client calls and asks for a licensing quote, know what questions to ask and ask them, and be ready to negotiate a firm quote.
9. MAKE SURE THAT IF YOU SUBMIT A RESUME, BIO OR CREDITS LIST, IT'S PROFESSIONAL, ACCURATE, AND EASY TO READ
If a client wants to see your bio, resume or credits, have those documents ready to go. While everyone's situation is different, it's usually best to focus on aspects of you, your music and/or your career that would create confidence in a prospective licensee of your music, and avoid mention of aspects of yourself that may cause concern or doubt. Things to emphasize: good credits, good reviews, your history as an artist/performer, your experiences in film/TV music. Things to consider not including: non-music related things (your day job as a plumber, etc), any limitations (words like "only" to describe any aspects of yourself), too much legalese (a simple, unobtrusive copyright notice is fine on your demo CD - avoid additional, unnecessary, and especially heavy-handed legal language ("no unauthorized reproduction permitted under penalty of law", etc). And in every case, proofread your work to eliminate any grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors. Nothing screams "unprofessional" like misspelled words or a sloppy-looking document.
10. ALWAYS PROVIDE CUE SHEET INFO WITH YOUR SUBMISSIONS, AND MAKE SURE YOU GET A COPY OF ANY CUE SHEETS FOR PRODUCTIONS USING YOUR MUSIC
The cue sheet is the document prepared by a production company for a film or television production listing the music used in the production. It's the official record of what music is used in a production, and is the basis for payment of perfomring rights royalties to the writer(s) and publisher(s) of the music. For each piece of music, the writer(s) and publisher(s) must be listed along with any co-writing percentages, the performing rights affiliations (ASCAP, BMI or SESAC) of each writer and publisher, and the length of the actual music used must be included on the cue sheet. Make sure you provide the writer and publisher names for all music submitted along with the affiliation of each, and don't forget to request a copy of the completed cue sheet once the project is completed. Then, make sure your performing rights organization has a copy as well so you can be paid when the project is broadcast.
From Film Music Network - www.filmmusic.net
1. PUT YOUR NAME, CONTACT EMAIL AND PHONE BOTH ON YOUR CD CASE AND ON YOUR CD.
We received the following email today from one of our clients which vividly demonstrates why you should do this:
========================
Dear Film Music:
Last year I placed a JobWire posting to solicit music
for a television series I do the music supervision on.
One of the songs I would like to use is by an artist
named Sarah McDougall. I know her music was sent to me
through the posting but I have now misplaced the cover
of the CD and I have NO idea how to contact her to
process the license. Would you have any contact
information there?
(well-known TV Music Supervisor)
========================
Well, if you're Sarah McDougall or her rep, please contact us right away and we'll put you in touch with a music supervisor who is ready to license your music immediately!
As it is with television, this music supervisor is on an extremely short timetable and unless he gets this info within a day or so, Sarah's tune probably won't get placed. This also demonstrates another interesting phenomenon about film and television music placements:
2. DON'T ASSUME THAT EVERYBODY MOVES AS FAST AS YOU'D LIKE THEM TO
We checked, and the original JobWire our music supervisor client above was talking about was published in May of 2004. Since then, he's been referencing submissions from our members on a regular basis. So as you send out your packages, you're planting seeds which might bear fruit many months from the original submission date. This brings to mind another handy tip...
3. CONSIDER A "PERMANENT" PHONE NUMBER
Most people have hundreds if not thousands of demos out in circulation having sent them out over many years. Interestingly, some "old" demos may come back to life again if they end up in the hands of people who need music for film and television. If your old demos have old, outdated phone numbers on them, that can be a big problem. When film & TV people are ready to move on licenses, it usually happens very quickly and by phone.
We've teamed with Kall8 to provide a special service to our members. Check out Kall8's phone number selection at:
fusion.kallback.com/kall8/enter.cfm
With Kall8, you can get a toll-free or local number and via the Internet map it to whatever phone number is best for you to receive calls at. If you want to change what number your permanent number rings through to, just sign on to your Kall8 admin page and change the number - it's that easy.
Another benefit of toll free numbers is that it doesn't make it immediately obvious where you are located (some people are concerned about being perceived as "out of towners") and it doesn't cost your clients to call you.
4. DON'T USE SLIMLINE CD CASES
Slimline CD cases (those thin, transparent cases) are low cost and nice looking, but have one major drawback - when they're placed in a stack or on a shelf like books, they disappear. There's no place for a spine label so if a music supervisor wants to find your CD again, it can mean a big search through many CDs. Use standard transparent jewel cases and make sure there's a spine label so your name shows through in BIG LETTERS through the spine, so when the CD is stored, you're easy to find.
5. DON'T SUBMIT TOO MUCH MUSIC
Submitting more than 10 tracks on a CD means they probably won't all get listened to. Sometimes people send multiple CDs loaded with music - most clients don't have the time or interest in previewing hours of music, so be strategic and send your best stuff.
6. DON'T SUBMIT MUSIC THAT'S NOT ASKED FOR TO TRY AND DEMONSTRATE THAT YOU'RE VERSATILE
Music supervisors and filmmakers are looking for specific types, genres, and styles of music. Trying to submit music that isn't a good fit for the requested music can be frustrating for the filmmaker or music supervisor (they often feel it's a waste of time), and can flag your future submissions as CDs to avoid. Submit music that's on target, and put your best foot forward.
7. AVOID EDITS OF MUSIC WITH LONG/REPETITIVE INTROS
As our clients listen to CDs, they report that often the first 5-10 seconds of a track will determine whether or not they find it interesting/compelling enough to listen to the rest of the track, or hit "skip". Long, slow, and/or repetitive intros can be a sure way to *not* grab a listener's attention. If your tracks do have these intros, consider creating edits of them for submission purposes with the intro shortened or eliminated.
8. BE EASY TO DO BUSINESS WITH, KNOW YOUR BUSINESS, AND BE READY TO DO BUSINESS
When it comes to music placements, clients want easy, one-stop licensing in many cases. Remember that there generally are 2 separate, independent copyrights on every piece of music. A music copyright (generally owned by a publishing company) on the underlying music and a sound recording copyright on each recording of the music (generally owned by a record company). It's your job to make it easy for a client to get both a sync license (with the music's publisher) and a master license (with the owner of the sound recording) to cover both of the copyrights on a piece of music. If you don't own both copyrights on your music, make sure that clients that are interested in your music can be easily put in touch with both copyright owners quickly, and that those copyright owners are ready to license in fast-turnaround situations. And perhaps most importantly of all, be READY to do business... If a client calls and asks for a licensing quote, know what questions to ask and ask them, and be ready to negotiate a firm quote.
9. MAKE SURE THAT IF YOU SUBMIT A RESUME, BIO OR CREDITS LIST, IT'S PROFESSIONAL, ACCURATE, AND EASY TO READ
If a client wants to see your bio, resume or credits, have those documents ready to go. While everyone's situation is different, it's usually best to focus on aspects of you, your music and/or your career that would create confidence in a prospective licensee of your music, and avoid mention of aspects of yourself that may cause concern or doubt. Things to emphasize: good credits, good reviews, your history as an artist/performer, your experiences in film/TV music. Things to consider not including: non-music related things (your day job as a plumber, etc), any limitations (words like "only" to describe any aspects of yourself), too much legalese (a simple, unobtrusive copyright notice is fine on your demo CD - avoid additional, unnecessary, and especially heavy-handed legal language ("no unauthorized reproduction permitted under penalty of law", etc). And in every case, proofread your work to eliminate any grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors. Nothing screams "unprofessional" like misspelled words or a sloppy-looking document.
10. ALWAYS PROVIDE CUE SHEET INFO WITH YOUR SUBMISSIONS, AND MAKE SURE YOU GET A COPY OF ANY CUE SHEETS FOR PRODUCTIONS USING YOUR MUSIC
The cue sheet is the document prepared by a production company for a film or television production listing the music used in the production. It's the official record of what music is used in a production, and is the basis for payment of perfomring rights royalties to the writer(s) and publisher(s) of the music. For each piece of music, the writer(s) and publisher(s) must be listed along with any co-writing percentages, the performing rights affiliations (ASCAP, BMI or SESAC) of each writer and publisher, and the length of the actual music used must be included on the cue sheet. Make sure you provide the writer and publisher names for all music submitted along with the affiliation of each, and don't forget to request a copy of the completed cue sheet once the project is completed. Then, make sure your performing rights organization has a copy as well so you can be paid when the project is broadcast.
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