Why Music Supervisors despise the Clearance Process

Music Clearance is the process whereby permission is obtained from the owner of a song (the people who wrote it) or a master recording (the people who recorded it), which you wish to use in your production. It can be a minefield of red tape, money, time and effort for the Music Supervisor. Understand the difference between a song and a master recording. This can become a very a complicated legal industry.

For every song written, any number of artists may have made their own recording. As an example, "White Christmas" has been recorded by Bing Crosby, The Partridge Family, Randy Travis, Tiny Tim, John Tesh, Burl Ives, or even some guy named Herb that you just hired to make a recording, etc. This means that song rights are separate from recording rights. And more importantly, understand that you cannot use any master recording without getting permission from the publisher(s) to use the song. Conversely, if you gain permission from the publisher, but are denied use of a particular master recording, you can always use a different master recording or record your own master with the publisher(s) permission. Any number of composers can be involved in writing one song. Their own publisher may represent each of these composers. A music publisher, to generalize, acts as the representative of the composer for their individual rights in regards to anyone using their song. In order to clear a song, it is necessary to locate and contact the representative of each composer, confirm their ownership or administration percentage rights (i.e., do they own 50% of the song?), and negotiate a fee for use of their share of the song. Composer's representatives are usually music publishers. Negotiating a fee for use of a song is based on the type of production you have (such as a film, television show, corporate meeting, trade show, commercial, CD-ROM, web site, compilation record, etc.) Other factors involved in the negotiating process are how much of the song is used and the manner in which it is used. There are a number of rights within all these different media that can include synchronization rights, mechanical rights, performance rights, etc. Clearance Companies consult with you on your individual project concerning your required uses. Clearing a master recording - If you would rather use the Sid Vicious version of "My Way", than the Frank Sinatra version, clearance companies can locate the proper record label and negotiate on your behalf for a use. Different artists will have different record labels and some artists have recorded on several different record labels during their careers. Clearance of the master recording has nothing to do with clearance of the song. Publishing companies and record companies are almost always totally separate entities. As an example, "My Way" was recorded by Sid Vicious, Frank Sinatra and many others, but was originally composed by Jacques Revaux, with French words by Gillis Thibault. Subsequently, Paul Anka wrote English words. This is a perfect example of how complicated an apparently simple music clearance can become. Having a product that is easy to clear is an important factor.

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