TALKING BUSINESS
-DEFINITIONS
WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON TERMS USED IN MUSIC LICENSING
By Brent McCrossen

Nature of Use
The nature of use denotes exactly how your song will be used in the production. For a TV show or movie, it could include “Background” or “Featured Track.” If your song is in the background, it typically will garner a lower price point, whereas, if your song is a Featured Track it would usually be licensed at a higher dollar amount. If your song is licensed for either Background or Feature use, a production will need to secure another license to use that same song in a trailer or commercial for that production.

Term
The word Term applies to the length of time a production can use your song. In most cases, for film, TV and video games, the length of the term is “in perpetuity”— that means forever. Any film or TV show that’s being created is going to be around forever, theoretically, and thus the song you licensed to that film or TV show will need to be fixed to it permanently.

All In
“All in” is a phrase that discusses the price paid for both the master and the sync license. Sometimes a production will pay you a certain amount for the master license and another amount for the sync license. However, it is most common for a music supervisor to say that they will pay a certain total amount, “All in.” Basically, that means the total paid will grant them both the master and sync.

Most Favored Nations
Most Favored Nations, also known as “MFN,” means that you’ll be paid the exact same amount that every other artist is being paid for their song in a similar context. If your song is being used in the background for a price of $10,000 and another artist whose song is being used in the background is able to demand (and secure) $12,000 you’ll be bumped up to the $12,000 payment because you have Most Favored Nations secured in your contract.

Credit
In the case of commercial advertising, “credit” doesn’t often apply. However, if your song is in a TV show, film or a video game, you should expect to be given credit. This will require the production to list your band name, publisher and song title in the credits. Obscurity is the biggest threat to any musician. Getting your name on the credits will help you avoid that.

Summary
Music licensing can be a lot of fun and is a very strategic way to grow the success of your career. It will help you to gain exposure and profit from your creation. I highly recommend the book Music Money and Success. This is the bible of music licensing and, at over 300 pages, goes into full detail on every aspect of music licensing.