On Friday 25 January 2008 19:03:02 Ken Restivo wrote:
To:
Cesare Marilungo <cesare(a)poeticstudios.com>
CC:
A list for linux audio users <linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org>
Date:
Today 19:03:02
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
Thanks for the leads.
Does anyone know of similar sites that cater to background and audio effects?
Thanks
Tom