We get it: for creatives producing content material for a number of purchasers, managing your music licensing prices might be tough. Regardless if you happen to’re a freelancer, you run a small manufacturing firm, otherwise you work for a bigger company, it may be difficult to all the time buy the right soundtrack whereas retaining your bills in verify.
We’re right here that will help you navigate this troublesome course of by providing some tried-and-true approaches to analyzing your music licensing prices and, when acceptable, transparently passing them by to your purchasers so everybody advantages.
If considered one of your targets for 2025 is to higher handle your bills, comply with this information on approaching music licensing prices together with your numerous purchasers.
Assist your purchasers perceive music licensing fundamentals
Our first tip for discussing music licensing prices and expectations together with your purchasers is to have these conversations early within the artistic course of. Even if you happen to’re simply doing a one-off video for a consumer, the extra you are able to do at the beginning to convey that there are extra prices for a venture apart from your time and tools, the higher.
Prices apart, music performs an enormous half in any video or marketing campaign, so encouraging your purchasers to share (or take into consideration) their musical imaginative and prescient on the leap might be fairly useful in growing artistic ideas and storyboards. And in case your consumer has a particular request like a well-known music, customized unique music, or a really area of interest style, discovering out early is essential to avoiding surprises and disappointment and letting you intend forward.
In the event you’re already a Soundstripe subscriber, an ideal trick might be to spend a while exploring the Soundstripe library to search out music that you simply suppose may be a pleasant thematic match for a venture. You too can encourage your purchasers to browse the library to see if any songs (or at the least genres) match their imaginative and prescient and expectations.
That is additionally an effective way to start out conversations concerning the fundamentals of music licensing. In brief, regardless of some misconceptions about what phrases like ‘royalty free’ and ‘copyright free’ imply, most purchasers can perceive that music isn’t free—and, extra particularly, licensing music for business use prices cash for a motive.
Contemplate whether or not to bundle your music licensing prices into your venture charges
The primary choice many creatives contemplate for music licensing is to bundle any licensing prices immediately into their venture charges. This strategy is usually favored by each solo freelancers and larger businesses as a result of it makes the method simpler when discussing budgets and expectations with purchasers.
It’s value contemplating, nonetheless, whether or not to itemize music licenses as bills separate out of your fee–just like the way you may itemize bills associated to journey for a shoot. Whereas it does require a bit extra communication and detailed proposals and invoices, immediately billing a consumer for his or her audio belongings can guarantee you’ve gotten the liberty to each choose the appropriate music and pay for all the mandatory protection–with out going over finances.
Spending the time to coach your purchasers on each the perks of utilizing royalty free music from firms like Soundstripe, in addition to the downsides to risking copyright strikes and takedowns, may help ease confusion about being requested to cowl music licensing prices. And confirming these prices shall be 100% coated from the beginning is a simple but drastic approach to elevate your content material with a pitch-perfect soundtrack.
Contemplate a music licensing subscription vs particular person licenses
Nonetheless, there are eventualities the place it’d make extra sense so that you can deal with all the music licensing prices by yourself. Wherein case, you may end up in a spot the place you’re contemplating a music licensing subscription versus per-song licensing prices in your music and sound results.
In the event you’re working off of a retainer or a lump sum that covers all points of a video’s manufacturing and distribution, for instance, these prices may make extra sense so that you can tackle your self, which is the place annual and month-to-month subscription choices for music suppliers like Soundstripe can supply probably the most worth—particularly if you happen to’re doing a lot of work with a lot of music and sound results.
That mentioned, it’s essential to keep in mind that in lots of situations, it makes extra sense in your purchasers to join their very own plans to get music licensing for enterprise. Not like particular person plans for solo creators, enterprise plans are created by music licensing firms for companies with a purpose to enable a number of workforce members (and contractors) to make use of the service below a single subscription.
Some execs of Soundstripe’s enterprise plans embrace broader licensing choices for business functions (akin to protection for TV spots along with digital adverts), extra sturdy ensures and warranties for peace of thoughts, higher indemnification, and customizable contract phrases to suit a corporation’s distinctive wants.
In the event you’re interested by which Soundstripe plan can be higher for you or your purchasers, right here’s a full explainer on whether or not enterprise plans are best for you.
Private or company plan apart, a music licensing subscription offers you complete predictability on the subject of your music licensing prices–perfect for when you may’t simply cost overages to your consumer’s tab. That mentioned, single-song licenses even have their time and place, notably whenever you don’t have sufficient constant work from purchasers to warrant the recurring dedication. Right here at Soundstripe, each monitor in our catalog is offered for particular person buy so you may all the time purchase the precise license you want, whenever you want it.
Tie your music licensing prices to the place your movies shall be used
One other strategy skilled creators and entrepreneurs can strive with their purchasers is to tie music licensing prices on to the place your movies shall be used. That is usually a greater choice for creatives working with bigger manufacturers and promoting businesses, as these firms are typically extra acquainted with how business and broadcast licensing charges work.
Think about using the contract stage of a venture to specify and doc precisely the place your work shall be distributed: social media (and whether or not natural or paid), TV, an occasion, and so forth. This may provide help to outline the suitable music licensing wants and finances for these prices.
In the event you’re working with smaller purchasers who solely need their content material to be distributed by on-line channels like numerous social media platforms and web sites, the price of correct protection is probably going minimal. Due to this fact, your only option may merely be baking the fee into your general venture estimate.
Nonetheless, in case your consumer needs to broadcast your content material on tv or different mass-market media (say, OTT, radio, or OOH) , you’ll need to discover extra itemized licensing bills to cowl these distribution prices or direct your purchasers to discover the music licensing choices obtainable with Soundstripe’s enterprise plans.
Bear in mind, all music licenses have particular allowances and limitations–a music that’s cleared for YouTube will not be authorised for a TV business. Figuring out your consumer’s intent for a venture won’t solely provide help to finances precisely however will allow you to safe all of the rights obligatory for a profitable marketing campaign and consumer engagement.
Extra sources
In the event you’d wish to additional discover extra suggestions and methods for managing your purchasers and discovering the very best music in your tasks, try these further articles from the Soundstripe weblog: