25 Jan
2008
25 Jan
'08
10:03 p.m.
On Thu, Jan 24, 2008 at 03:06:07PM +0100, Cesare Marilungo wrote:
I received an email from a film producer (based in Los
Angeles, probably
an indie studio) in which he wrote that the director of a movie they're
just finishing (they're at post-production stage) is interested in using
two tracks of mine, 'Balloon' (http://www.cesaremarilungo.com/media) and
'As we grow older' (http://www.cesaremarilungo.com/media/the-moon-ep).
I released these tracks under a non-commercial Creative Commons license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed-music.
In the past some of my music has been used for some short films, but
these were clearly non commercial projects or film schools thesis.
Has anybody some experience on this topic? What should I do? Should I
re-license these tracks? Can I just make them a written permission? Or
should I ask for some kind of royalty (or would it be ridiculous, also
considering that AFAIK Gyorgy Ligeti has never been paid for its music
on '2001 A space odyssey' :-) )?
Thanks in advance,
Congratulations! I consider licensing deals the holy grail; much as I love publishing my
work as CC-BY-SA, and will continue to do so, I would love to close a licensing deal and
make some money. More money == more time to make music and more ability to upgrade gear in
the future if needed. Moby, here I come.
You may cross-license anything any way you like. You own it. The rights you define via any
license are for anyone else, not for you. But be careful in any contract you might sign,
to make sure it doesn't restrict you from licensing it any way you want (the scary
word to look for here is "exclusive").
Definitely see a lawyer. Not just any lawyer, but an entertainment industry lawyer with
experience in Hollywood. The big issue here isn't so much legal as negotiating
leverage: how much do these guys want your music, and how much are they willing to pay for
it? Make sure you get a fair price. I recommend a lawyer whose offices are in Los Angeles
for something like this, and who is very active in the movie industry.
By the way, I put some of my music up on musicsupervisor.com on a bandmember's
recommendation. It looks like it might be a good site for trying to get licensing deals.
Also, Magnatune.com operates this way too: they try to find licensing deals (movies, TV,
commercials, games, ringtones, etc.) and they split it 50% with you. I haven't
submitted anything to them yet because I can't choose what to send them, I have too
much stuff.
-ken