Stop What You’re Doing And Do What’s Right…Damn It!

Do you remember the lyrics to the song by Digital Underground, “Okay, stop what you’re doing, ’cause I’m about to ruin the image and the style that you’re used to.”  That’s my goal in the blog posting.  I want you to stop production, take a moment to think about the song choices you have in your film right now.  Can you really afford the licensing fees?  Do you even have a clue as to how much it will cost to license these songs?  Have you even given the owner of the song the right to decide if they even want their song your film?

I don’t mean to ruin your musical vision.  I just want to prevent you from having to deal with the stress and headache down the road.  As a music supervisor, I deal with this everyday.  I hear the frustration in the filmmaker’s voice when we discuss the clearing and licensing issues that have surfaced.  Actually these issues didn’t just surface, they were just being ignored.

My point is, no one is listening.  No one is taking the time to question the music that’s being edited into their film.  It’s insane!  Who’s in charge during filming when music is picked up (incidental music) and no one says we can’t afford that songs, let’s re-shoot.  Who’s in charge during post?  Who was in charge when the script was being broke down and the budget was prepared.

Why do I always rant and rave about this?  Because (as I’ve stated several times before) I keep getting the calls and the e-mails from desperate directors and/or producers who need to clear this ridiculous list of songs that they’ve allowed to get placed in their film.  Now they have a distributor who has told them that they cannot move forward with a distribution deal unless they clear all the songs in their film.

Now I get the list of music cues and the music budget they want me to use to clear these songs.  It’s like going to the grocery store with $100 in your pocket and you fill you shopping cart with $5,000 worth of groceries.  It’s not going to work.  You wouldn’t walk into the equipment rental store and grab a HD camera, a lighting kit and sound equipment and just walk out?  No!  You have to pay for it.

So why do you think you can just pick a handful of songs and throw them in your film without getting permission first and then paying the fees you’re quoted?  Someone owns the music just like the groceries, camera, lighting kit and sound equipment.  Nothing is for free.  Someone had to pay for it at one point.

You’ve been making the festival rounds with music you have not cleared and no one has said a word.  You think you’ve gotten away with something.  You haven’t.  My question to you is, “how serious are you about the future of your film?”  Why put yourself in the position of having to come up with thousands of dollars to clear these songs and the expense to remove the songs that you can’t afford.

Right now while you’re still in post you should ask yourself, “how much money do I have for music?”  “How much money can I raise?”  Be brutally honest here.  There are a lot of songs that will work just the same that are more affordable.

You know, when I bring this subject up, no one seems to want to comment.  I really wish I could get some feedback from filmmakers that fall into this category.  I would really like to know the thought process that goes on while sitting there editing the film and you can hear music that’s obviously a very popular song by a very well known artist.  These are the songs you should stay away from unless you have a fairly large music budget.

So have you stopped what you’re doing and really put some thought in to the music you have in your film right now?  Let me hear form someone who’s in this situation right now.  Just post a comment or send me an e-mail.

One last thing to remember, aside from the financial issues, is the fact that you must clear the rights to use music in your film.  That’s right!  You must get permission first.  Then if permission is granted, you can then deal with the licensing fees that you are quoted.

Remember, “If you can hear it, clear it…and then pay for it.”