Paul Chodirker is an entertainment lawyer at Heenan Blaikie LLP in Toronto. He is also featured on the “law boys” radio segment which can beheard every Wednesday night on the Toronto-based radio station, 102.1 The Edge.

Are we there yet? So, you’ve recorded your music, found a producer interested in using your song in a film or television series, and negotiated a price for a synch and/or master-use license…so, now what? Well, everything else.

What else should you be weary of before signing a synch and/or master use license?

Limited Media and Internet Rights

The film or television producer is going to want to use your song in all forms of media. So, the licenses they have you sign will most likely contain a clause which states that the song can be used in any and all media. Basically, this means that the producer can use your song in a film or television program that is released theatrically, over the internet, through video-on-demand, free TV, etc. – all media – get it? This is very standard and a producer will unlikely agree to anything unless they can exploit the song in all forms.

Terms of Rights

A producer, unless they are receiving very bad legal advice, will never license use of the song for a limited period of time (e.g. 10 years). They will almost always ask for a perpetual license. This allows the producer the right to use the music forever, or for the duration of copyright. Otherwise, they will have to renew the music license when the term expires, which they don’t want to do.

Sales and Mechanical Royalties

This probably wont be applicable to indie musician’s who are not in great demand. However, once your music becomes popular, or if a producer absolutely needs your particular song in his or her film, you may want to negotiate additional royalties on top of the license fee. For example, you can ask for royalties based on a certain number of DVD units sold.

So, what about the inclusion of your song on a soundtrack? If a producer wants to include your music on a soundtrack, they’re going to have to do two things:

1. They will need soundtrack album rights to either be included in the master use license, or obtain a separate agreement for such rights. Remember, only the owner of the master recording(s) has the right to license the use of a master in film.
2. Either the producer or the soundtrack record company will need to obtain mechanical licenses from your music publisher or yourself (if you haven’t assigned your compositions to a publisher), in order to make mechanical reproductions of the underlying composition contained on the masters.

That’s it. You’re done! Go ahead and sign that synch and/or master use license and prepare to hear your music in the background while Matthew McConaughey and [Kate Hudson/Jennifer Lopez/Meg Ryan/ Jennifer Garner/or Jennifer Aniston] finally tell each other how much they mean to each other.

Remember, I never said you had to agree to every movie deal.