Obtaining music licensing rights for use in a film

This may move to Cafe Society but figured I’d start here since I am looking for a factual answer.

I have created a short film that uses the commercially released version of a song–definitely not in the public domain, and whose writer is now deceased.

I want to submit this film in a film festival but I know a big hurdle is the licensing rights. But before I even get to the point of making a petition and negotiating any clearance fees, I need to know who owns the rights to the song currently.

I know the band, the year the song was released, the album and the recording label. But how do I determine who exactly owns the rights? Is there a resource that just indexes all that info? I tried ASCAP, SESAC, and BMI but not much luck yet.

Thanks for any info or insight you can offer. :slight_smile:

ASCAP, SESAC, and BMI cannot grant you the rights to include music in a movie. That is not their function.

But they have useful databases on their web sites:

ACE Repertory
BMI Repertoire
SESAC Repertory

You can search these data bases to find out who the publisher of the music is.

You need two sets of permissions for what you are trying to do: A Sync (or synchronization) License for permission to use the underlying song and a Master License to use the commercial recording of the song.

The publisher owns the sync rights. You will have to contact the song’s publisher(s) in order to obtain a sync license. Remember that many songs have the same title and that there may be more than one publisher.

Usually, the record company owns the master rights. You will have to contact the record company that put out the recording you want to use in order to get a Master Use License.

There are also agencies that will do this for you, for a price. The jargon for this process is obtaining “clearances.” Google for “music clearance companies.”