Music licensing can be a very confusing subject. My intent with this article is to give you enough details on what music licensing is and what are your rights to use music in advertising and / or video productions.

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A few months ago I was contacted by a company that was celebrating 20 years in business. They wanted to put together a radio commercial that highlighted their celebration. Their request was to use Kool and the Gangs song Celebration in their radio spot. I explained to them in order to do this they would have to obtain a licensing which would cost them quite a bit of money. This was not an option for them due to their limited budget and ultimately they told me that they ?went another direction? with their advertising.

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If I had agreed to use this song without obtaining a licensing I would have put both of our companies at risk. It was not worth the risk just to make a sale. Beware that there are unscrupulous production companies that will do this type of illegal activity so the best protection you have is knowledge.

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The copyright law protects writers of music by giving them exclusive right to their music. Once a piece of music is under copyright protection it is illegal to use it without getting permission to the owner of the copyright.

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There are actually two types of copyrights in the United States. One is the actual copyright which is denoted with the familiar C with a circle around it. This protection is for the actual melody, lyrics and arrangement of the music. The copyright is usually owned by the actual artist that wrote the piece or their publishing company.

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The second form of copyright is the actual recording itself. This is denoted by a P with a circle around it. This protection covers the performance of the song caught on tape or digital media and released on CD or other media. Many times a record or production company will own this performance right.

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If you want to use a song in a production, you need obtain a Master Use license from the owner of the copyright and a Synchronization license (often called a sync license) from the owner of the performance of the song.

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The fees for synchronization licenses vary greatly. Low-end TV usage (music is playing from car radio in a scene) can cost up to $2,000. In a film, the fee may be as high as $10,000. A popular song is worth more, possibly $3,000 for TV and $25,000 for film. A song used as the theme song for a film might get $50,000 to $75,000. Commercials can get even more money. Fees for a popular song can range from $25,000 to $500,000 plus per year. The typical range for a well-known song is $75,000 to $200,000 for a one year national usage in the United States on television and radio.

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I think you will agree with me that that is allot of money and usually way over budget for many video and radio productions. ?

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To get around these outrageous fees, music production companies sell buyout music. When you purchase a buyout CD you do not need to obtain a licensing to use the music. You can use the music hassle free and at a much lower cost.

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Buyout music or royalty-free, as it applies to my products, means that for your one-time purchase price, you can legally use the music in your productions for life of ownership. All copyrights of the music remain with Zebra Music LLC. My jingle licensing agreement allows a protected area of 200 miles. By doing this no other companies in a local market will have the same jingle.

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Many other production companies offer a similar buy out music licensing. I would advise you to read the licensing agreements with other production companies and ask questions if you have concerns.

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Network broadcast and international broadcast of buyout production music is cleared through a performance organization (like BMI or ASCAP). ?The revenue that these songs produce when they are aired is paid directly from broadcast station licensing, NOT from you as a producer. These performance organizations then in turn pay each artist based on the amount their song or songs were aired on the radio or TV.

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I hope this article has cleared up any confusion or questions that you have had about copyright and music licensing.

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Steve Veloudos owns and operates Zebra Music LLC.? It?s a one stop shop for jingles, radio production, custom music, library music, and sound design. Visit Steve?s web site and get free monthly music that you can use for your productions.
http://www.zebramusic.com

zebra24@msn.com

480-540-7768

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True Love was written by Cole Porter and performed by Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly in the 1955 film, High Society, which also starred Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong. True Love was the first and only gold record for Grace Kelly and was the 21st gold record for Bing Crosby. The song stayed on the charts for 22 weeks, rising as high as number 3. True Love was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Song in 1956, although it lost to Doris Day?s Que Sera, Sera.

Cole Porter was a highly experienced songwriter when he wrote True Love. The decades of the 1930?s and 1940?s were full of Cole Porter hit musicals. During the 1930?s alone, Porter wrote music and lyrics for ten Broadway musicals for New York and two film musicals for Hollywood.

Cole Porter was born in Indiana in 1891 to parents who were wealthy. He received an extensive musical education, learning the piano and the violin by age six. His favorite of the two was the piano which he practiced two hours daily. By age ten he was writing words and music to original songs, and by age seventeen he published his first song.

Porter also received an impressive academic education which carried him through Yale and into Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Music. While at Yale, Porter became the president of the Glee Club and a cheer leader, and, among the 300 songs he wrote while at Yale, he wrote two football fight songs that are still played today. Despite being the roommate of Dean Acheson, the future Secretary of State under President Truman, Porter dropped out of Harvard Law School to continue with his music education.

After World War I, Porter moved to Europe where he met and married Linda Lee Thomas, a beautiful and rich divorcee and a descendant of the Lees of Virginia. Their relationship was a loving, supportive, lifelong partnership. Cole Porter was gay and had numerous male interests which Linda had agreed to allow. However, the marriage was at times unstable when Porter?s gay interests threatened the couple?s carefully maintained social appearances.

Following their marriage in 1919 in Paris, the Porters lived an extravagant lifestyle in Europe through the 1920?s. Their palatial home in Paris had floor to ceiling mirrors and zebra skin upholstery. Later, they moved into a famous palace in Venice where their lush parties included fifty gondoliers, circus acrobats, and a ballet company. They also built a night club outside their palace which accommodated 100 guests.

Back in New York, Porter?s first few contributions to Broadway musicals were poorly received. However, by the end of the 1920?s Porter gained recognition, and through the 1930?s and 1940?s he was one of the brightest stars on Broadway. He worked excessively and tirelessly on his musical productions and spent time in both New York and Hollywood.

In 1937 a terrible horse riding accident crushed both of Porter?s legs. As the story goes, while waiting for hours for help to arrive he composed the lyrics to a verse of his song, At Long Last Love. The accident left him crippled and in pain for the rest of his life. He underwent more than 30 leg operations until his right leg was finally amputated in 1958. Following his leg amputation, Cole Porter dropped out of music production until his death in 1964.

In 1955 Cole Porter wrote the lyrics and music for High Society, starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong. The film was a musical remake of the classic 1940 award winning movie, The Philadelphia Story, which won a Best Actor Oscar for James Stewart and which also starred Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. High Society featured nine musical numbers, plus there were five additional songs written by Porter which were not included in the movie.

High Society was one of MGM?s greatest musicals. Grace Kelly was the movie?s luminous star, and the romantic exchange with Bing Crosby in True Love was one of the movie?s highlights.

Here are the lyrics to Cole Porter?s True Love.

Sometimes wind blows
a new moon moves at last alone
feeling far above her
oh how lucky we are

while I give to you
would you give to me
true love true love
so on and on it will always be
true love true love

for you and I have a guardian angel
on high with nothing to do
but to give to you as you give to me
love forever true
love forever true

for you and I have a guardian angel
on high with nothing to do
but to give you as you give to me
love forever true
love forever true

give me more true love oh yeah
true love true love
true love true love
got to give me your oh yeah oh yeah
true love true love
true love true love

for you and I have a guardian angel
on high with nothing to do
but to give to you as you give to me
love forever true
love forever true
love forever true love.

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Garry Gamber is a public school teacher and entrepreneur. He writes articles about politics, real estate, health and nutrition, and internet dating services. He is the owner of http://www.Anchorage-Homes.com and http://www.TheDatingAdvisor.com

Ready to start your own band? There are plenty of musicians out there willing to pursue a career in music with you, but how do you choose the right musician? Different musicians contribute different sounds to a band depending on their technical skills, innovations, and music diversity. For example, Metallica would not sound the way they do without James Hetfield, or Dream Theater would definitely not sound the same without the drumming talents of Mike Portnoy.

Here are some tips on how to narrow down your list of potential band members.

1. Determine their level of commitment. You want a musician that is in the same commitment level as the rest of the band. Is the band a full-time thing or are you just jamming on occasions for fun on weekends? Musicians with a high level of commitment are always good but they can discouraged if the rest of the band is lazy and only wants to play at minimal times. Figure out how often the band should get together to play and then find musicians that can commit to that schedule.

2. Technical abilities versus diversity. While technical abilities are important, there should be a good balance between music diversification as well. Anyone can pick up a guitar and shred like Yngwie Malmsteen with proper amount of practice picking the same notes over and over, but not everyone can play with such feel as Jimmi Hendrix.

3. The right musician should enjoy playing the same music style as the rest of the band members.

4. Compatibility with personality. Playing in a band is about having fun and you should be able to get along with all your band members off-stage. Generally speaking, you might get along with people within your age group better, so that might be something to consider when choosing musicians.

5. Open-minded to other music genres. While this may not apply to every band, it might be good to consider if your band ever decides to change its musical direction.

6. Band playing experience. Typically, the more band playing experience the better. There is a difference between self-taught musicians that practice at home by themselves and musicians that learn through others by playing in bands. Musicians with no band experience might have trouble with following songs since they are used to playing at home to album CD’s. In addition, if your band ever plans on performing live gigs, inexperienced musicians might have stage freight.

7. Enthusiasm. Does the musician take the band seriously enough to prioritize it? Does the musician contribute to the band musically? Enthusiasm is shown if the they contribute a lot of ideas into the songs and take some extra to practice at home as well. If the musician is always running late to practices, does not contribute and only plays what they’re told to play, then chances are he/she is not very committed to the band.

Kenny Auyoung: Webmaster @ http://www.getmeaband.com – Looking for a band? Search through our directory of musicians to find band members in your local area.

When Clear Channel controls the radio and the monopoly newspaper doesn’t like you, how do you win over new audiences?

The good news: there are many, many ways. Here are ten of my favorites.

1. Approach a local college or alternative radio station or community access cable TV station with a programming idea, like a live songwriter showcase. Other musicians will want to be a part of your show, and you’ll build an audience for your own music–and theirs.

2. Write CD or concert reviews for a local alternative (or mainstream) paper.

3. Give copies of your CD away to public radio and TV stations for their fund drive premiums.

4. Organize, publicize, and perform at charity events for your favorite causes.

5. Lead songwriting or performing workshops in the schools (these are usually paying gigs, and all the parents hear your name). Invite some of the kids to perform with you; they’re sure to bring a bunch of relatives along who will pay for their tickets and maybe buy a CD.

6. Announce your gigs in every community calendar. Newspapers, magazines, radio stations, community web sites, cable TV stations–they all run event listings. Type out one paragraph that includes a tag line about what you do, such as Sandy Songwriter, River City’s ‘Homegrown Bono,’ will perform labor songs and love ballads at The Trombone Shop, 444 4th Street in Downtown River City, Wednesday, January 15, 7 p.m. If admission is free or there’s a charity connection, say so. Include contact phone number and e-mail.

7. Find Internet discussion groups related to your cause. Whether it’s immigration, voting reform, peace, safe energy, the right to choose…there will be discussion groups online. Post responses and include a sig–a short on-line business card. Use different sigs for different purposes. Here’s one of mine (in a real e-mail, it would be single-spaced):

Shel Horowitz, mailto:shel@frugalfun.com, 800-683-WORD/413-586-2388

I make the world INSIST on learning why YOU’RE special

News releases, brochures, newsletters, ad copy, web copy, resumes, etc.

http://www.frugalmarketing.com * http://www.principledprofits.com

8. Set up a simple low-cost website. Include a couple of sound clips, pictures of you performing, a place for people to sign up for your fan newsletter, a link to your favorite musicians, and, of course, your tour schedule and gig availability.

9. Get exposure on other people’s websites. Write CD reviews, endorse their music with a blurb, submit articles on the local music scene…and always include your contact information and a statement that encourages people to visit your site.

10. Use the letters columns. Call in to talk shows. Post messages to Web forums…in short, use every feedback tool you have to spread the word.

Copywriter, marketing consultant, and speaker Shel Horowitz is the author of six books and publisher of five websites, five webzines and three ezines. His two most recent, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First (http://www.principledprofits.com) and Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World (http://www.frugalmarketing.com) have both won awards. He’s currently engaged in a campaign to get 25,000 people to sign–and spread–the Business Ethics Pledge: http://www.principledprofits.com/25000influencers.html

Led Zeppelin was blaring on the stereo and our violins trembled in the back seat. We devoured our fast food suppers as we zoomed along the dark winter highway to the big city two hours away from our small, rural Canadian town.

Anticipating the evening with mixed anxiety and excitement, our insides danced a quick nervous jig. We were travelling to the first of seven practices this month with a symphony orchestra and were already sick of the drive.

Ari, a 17-year-old fiddle student of mine, had never played in an orchestra but had won plenty of hardware at fiddle contests. Seeing the opportunity as great career experience, he reluctantly agreed to spend four Wednesdays and an entire weekend away from his friends in rehearsals. He was a proficient player and incredibly confident, which I hoped would keep him from bailing out before any music was played.

We were not at all prepared to play our parts since the music was held up by another orchestra until the day before. Thus the entire orchestra would have to sight-read (musician for fake it or die a terrible death) the music with the rest of the orchestra.

Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t have been nervous in the least. I played first violin for a year with the symphony, but had spent a couple years pregnant then raising my son. My mind had turned into a mish-mash of strained carrots and Barney and I was worrying about everything all at once.

Did I still have what it took to play with an orchestra? Was the cat fed today? Would I be able to stay awake at the rehearsal after only 4 hours sleep the night previous? Did I leave the stove on? Would my child survive at home with my unobservant husband? What if the conductor asked me to play in front of everyone else and I spontaneously forgot how to play the violin?

Leaving behind a toddler screaming for mommy was difficult, but no where near as frightening as the impending embarrassment that could have struck if I have lost my touch. My nervous tension grew as we approached the city lights.

After getting lost and being locked out of the building we were late, but thankfully, so was our boss, the section leader. We finally settled into our seats, clutching our violins with cold, shaking hands, and were met with intimidating folders crammed full of what a non-musician would think to be inkblot exams for testing the insane. On second thought, they very well could be tonight. The conductor raised his baton and we began.

Playing with a symphony is always wonderfully intense and the enormous volume within the orchestra is fantastic. Our conductor waved his hands with enthusiasm and the complete concentration everyone was immersed in was wonderfully intense. During an overture I was busy avoiding blasting unwanted notes when there was supposed to be silence and looking out for my young pupil beside me that he was on the same track.

For me the tension melted away when we pulled Beethoven Symphony No. 4 out of our folders.

Playing Beethoven was what inspired me to leave my warm cozy home and family to subject myself to potential humiliation. Playing Beethoven was enough incentive to keep all of us coming to rehearsals, though most of us were volunteers and weren’t paid to rehearse or perform in the concert. Playing Beethoven was what made the 4-hour drive in winter weather and midnight bedtime worthwhile.

Surprisingly, Ari was the one slumped over a kettledrum napping during the break, and not me. My maternal instinct took over and I helped him into a chair. He’s new to all this, I said to another player and she smirked and let him rest in peace, with full understanding of how the late rehearsals can drain a player. Players exchanged baby pictures, ate cake, then played Happy Birthday for a flautist.

Bruce, not The Maestro, but Bruce, was a great leader who told jokes and hung with the rest of us. His friendliness and encouragement always made orchestra rehearsals fun for me and I’m sure all the musicians played better as a result.

At one point he asked the rookie, Ari, how he was holding up with the music. Fine, Ari replied. How’s she doing, Bruce teased, looking at me, the teacher. Oh, I don’t know about her! Ari said with an impish grin. We all laughed and again I felt my tension evaporate until I was just having fun again.

After playing remarkably well and avoiding the wrath of the sectionleader we drove home and reflected on the events behind us. Ari was having the time of his life and became delirious and giddy with fatigue. At one point he took his violin out of the case and started playing hyper-fast jigs in the car, his bow bumping the soft ceiling. We laughed and sang and talked.

Inside I was cherishing the feeling of being back in my element: I’m playing Beethoven again I kept reminding myself as the words’ euphoric effect had not yet worn off. Ari thought playing with a symphony was pretty cool and was glad he was giving it a try.

I thought of all the other musicians around the world who were on their way home from rehearsals and concerts, dog-tired and hopelessly broke, but content because they were feeding their souls. In the weeks to come our duo would run out of gas in the middle of nowhere, my son would nearly drive my husband batty with frustration and Ari would expose my car stereo to so-called music featuring indecent bodily noises, but it was all part of the musicians’ experience.

It allowed me to play Beethoven again.

We cranked up the Zeppelin and air-guitared all the way back home through a light blizzard, enjoying every minute of the drive together.

**Rhiannon Schmitt (nee Nachbaur) is a professional violinist and music teacher who has enjoyed creative writing for years.

Her business, Fiddleheads Violin School & Shop, has won several distinguished young entrepreneur business awards for her commitment to excellence. Her shop offers beginner to professional level instruments, accessories and supplies for very reasonable prices: Visit http://www.fiddleheads.ca

Rhiannon is also Founding President of the Shuswap Violin Society which promotes violin & fiddle music and helps young musicians in need: http://www.violinsociety.ca

MP3s are becoming more common everyday. Everything from new cars to new stereos are utilizing this incredible digital technology. Imagine having your entire music library at your fingertips whether you are in your car, at work or even at the gym without having to lug around you entire CD library.

iPods and MP3 players are big business and many people simply don’t have the time or resources to sit at their computers for weeks and convert their entire library. A recent Fortune Magazine article said:

Under the best of circumstances…it takes six to ten minutes to convert (rip) each music CD into compressed audio files suitable for storing on a computer, a portable digital music player, or if you’re a digital dandy, a home media server. And then there’s the time it takes to tag, or groom, the files, making sure that all the information about the CD– artist, album, song title, composer, genre, and so on–is accurate. Grooming can take longer than the ripping itself.

So what is a iPod or MP3 player owner supposed to do?

In comes the CD to MP3 business. Pickled productions will do it for you. The process is fast and painless. Everything from shipping your CDs to loading your players is just so easy. Pickled Productions offers today’s busy consumer with a service that will finally unleash your MP3 Player.

Pickled Productions offers fast and affordable digital conversion services for all your music needs.

Check it out for yourself!

Jason Prigg -

http://www.pickledproductions.com/