KEEPING UP WITH MUSIC LICENSING REQUIREMENTS IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR BUSINESSES. MOOD CAN TAKE CARE OF THE LICENSING SO YOU CAN FOCUS ON RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS.
MUSIC LICENSING 101
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSING – WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED
What is an ASCAP license? Is it different than a BMI music license? Do I need both? What are my risks? Relax. Mood handles all required business music licensing through thousands of relationships with critical industry players, including labels, performing rights organizations such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SoundExchange and publishers.
Keeping up with complex music licensing requirements is nearly impossible for today’s businesses. But noncompliance means risk of legal action in federal court and potentially costly penalties. At Mood, we not only design and deliver powerful music and music video solutions. We also take care of the licensing, so you can focus on running your business. Here’s a quick primer to help you understand the importance of licensing and the value of having Mood on your side.
LICENSING
The purpose of the United States Copyright Law is to protect the rights of artists, authors, composers and publishers to their work. When anyone plays or performs music in public, or distributes music in any form, they must have the rights to that music. If not, U.S. federal copyright laws call for severe legal and financial penalties. So, prior to using music or video in a commercial setting, a business must secure several rights:
MASTER RIGHTS
The right of the actual sound recording, owned by the record label and/or artist. To make a copy of the sound recording, an individual or a business requires a license from the owners. Mood has direct licenses with all the major record labels – Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music, EMI and Warner Music – and nearly 5,000 independent record labels.
MECHANICAL RIGHTS
The right of the author, composer and publisher of the musical composition, to the song’s music and lyrics, referred to legally as the “underlying musical work.” To make a copy of the song, a business needs to secure the mechanical rights from the publisher directly or through The Harry Fox Agency who may be the publisher’s administrator. Mood has direct licenses for the mechanical rights with thousands of catalogs throughout the world as well as with the Harry Fox Agency.
PERFORMANCE RIGHTS
The right to publicly perform a musical composition within a business. A performance includes the use of any form of music player, including but not limited to, an MP3 or CD player or any form of broadcast, such as AM/FM or satellite radio. These rights are either administered directly from the publisher or through performing rights organizations such as ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) or SESAC. Mood holds direct licenses with all of the above as well as other performance rights organizations.
SYNCHRONIZATION RIGHTS
The rights granted by the owner of the Master Rights (the record label and/or artist) and Mechanical/Performance Rights (composer, author and/or publisher) to authorize the duplication, distribution, and performance of a musical work embodied within a sound recording to be ‘synchronized’ with various audio/visual media outputs. These outputs may include film, television shows, advertisements, video games, movie trailers, etc.
COMPILATION CDS, PRE-LOADED PORTABLE MEDIA AND MUSIC DOWNLOADS
In order to produce a compilation CD, produce pre-loaded portable media or provide music downloads, a business or individual requires a license for each song from the record label and/or artist (owners of the Master Rights) and from the author, composer and publisher (owners of the Mechanical Rights).
STRATEGIC LICENSING SERVICES
Mood’s Strategic Licensing Services are designed to help businesses navigate specialized music licensing needs. Click HERE to Learn More.