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Music In Advertising: Creative Talk vs. Licensing Language

This series of articles have so far been geared to advertisers and marketing people, but it occurred to me while thinking about this month’s subject, that this time I would be addressing both marketing folks as well as other music supervisors.  And that makes sense, since I’ll be talking about music supervisors and brands mutually…

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Music In Advertising: Right of Publicity

Vocalist’s Rights in Advertising Just when I think this subject has been fully addressed and everyoneknows what is required, I find some new incident of a singer suing a company because direct permission wasn’t granted by the “principal vocalist,” and the company didn’t realized that such permission was necessary.  After all these years, many advertisers still…

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Music In Advertising: The Song Search

OK, a song search needs to happen for your approaching ad campaign. Who will do it? What is the creative brief? Who has the final say about the song choice? It is the client, the in-house marketing department, or the Creative Director? What is the budget? When does that choice need to be made? And,…

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Original Masters, Covers and Bespoke Re-Records

Ok, let's take a look at licensing different types of recordings, not so much as a creative option, but as a practical/logistical consideration for your campaign. The producer will have four choices: Original master recording(s)A pre-released coverA bespoke re-recordA sound-a-like (This really isn’t a legitimate option. At this point in the history of copyright infringement,…

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Music Licensing In Advertising – Part 2

Part 2: What To Know About Musician's Union Fees Ok, let's take a look at musician's "new use" and "re-use" fees and how they relate to music used in your ad campaign. If you intend to license a song/track for your spot, you may be wondering about musician's union back end fees. The most common…

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Music Licensing In Advertising

Part 1: What To Know About Vocal Talent And Union Fees When licensing a recording featuring a (known or unknown) vocal artist, there is an implied endorsement by that artist of your brand or product. Though this is not considered a legal partnership, it is a relationship that must be finessed. (A true artist-brand partnership…

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