Types of Music Licenses: Guide for Beginners

Behind the whole music scene, there is an industry that moves hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

Today, anyone involved in the music industry can generate huge profits.

Composers, arrangers, producers, musicians, vocalists, record companies… all of them are players in the huge music industry, which is growing year after year, a growth that generates vast amounts of money.

But where does the money go?

Well, mainly in the music licenses for commercial use.

Every time you hear a music track in movies, TV series, commercials, video games, radio, YouTube videos or other audiovisual media, it is because you have paid for the use of that music track.

In other words, it is because you have purchased the license for its commercial use.

And, which license has been acquired? Are there multiple licenses? How do they differ?

Yes, we know that the questions you may have are many, and to answer them we have created this super guide to explain them.

Whether you’re making music and want to learn how to get a license, or you’re looking to learn about the types of licenses that exist and what their characteristics are, in this article you’ll find everything you need to know about them.

What is music publishing?

When we speak of music publishing we are referring to the management of a music track that has been recorded.

It is important to mention that this management refers to the use of the music track for commercial purposes, that is, with the goal of using a song to generate money.

There is the possibility that the artist of a track takes care of the publication by himself. This has the advantage that he would get 100% of the profits generated through the royalties.

However, this is usually not the case because it requires a lot of dedication. In addition, the artists do not have the means or the contacts necessary to carry it out.

For this reason, artists who cannot publish their songs themselves usually contact a publishing company or, alternatively, a publisher.

The publisher will be in charge of:

When an artist signs a publishing agreement with a publisher, terms are established, including how the rights to the music track will be assigned to third parties and the percentage that the publisher will take of the royalty income.

Now that we have clarified what corresponds to music production, let’s see what a music license is.

What is a music license?

Music license refers to the legally documented permission that allows the transfer of a music track for commercial use.

It is an agreement to use the song for a certain purpose and for a certain time. These agreements provide, among other things:

In most cases, music is licensed for commercial use in broadcast media such as:

For example, the well-known series ‘Friends’ uses the song ‘ I’ll Be There For You ‘ by the group The Rembrandts as its header music.

In order to use this song as the title track of the series, the producers of the series will have had to acquire the commercial license for the song forever.

The royalties generated by the cost of acquiring this license will go to the publisher with whom The Rembrandts have the agreement of its music publication.

And, in that agreement, the distribution of profits is established according to the percentages that correspond to each one, both to the publisher and to the group.

Nowadays, licensing is one of the main tools used by artists -owners of the copyrights of their songs- to be compensated for the use of their musical works.

How is music publishing different from music licensing?

Maybe after explaining both terms, you’re asking yourself this question. So let’s see how they differ from each other.

As we mentioned before, the music license refers to the agreement that allows the transfer of a music track for commercial use.

On the other hand, music publishing is the management of the agreements that are made for a music track that is going to be used commercially.

If you recall, the publisher is responsible for, among other things, drawing up the agreements for the assignment of the rights to the music track for commercial use. These agreements, whose characteristics may vary, are known as music licenses.

Now that you understand the difference between music publishing and music licensing, let’s discover the different types of music licenses that exist.

Types of Music Licenses

Below you will find a list of the six music licenses that exist, explained in detail and with examples so that you can perfectly understand each and every one of them.

And we will start with one of the most important: the synchronization license.

Sync License

The synchronization license is a type of license through which the use of a music track is allowed in an audiovisual project.

More specifically, the synchronization license allows the reproduction of a music track as long as it is coordinated with the moving image of an audiovisual work.

That is, you will need the synchronization license for anything where the combination of a moving image accompanied by music is given.

The cases in which this license is usually needed are, mainly TV shows and series, cartoons, films, DVDs, commercial videos on YouTube or other platforms, video Ads, or video games, among others.

When a song is played as part of any of these media projects, it’s called synchronization.

In fact, when they usually refer to the “music license” per se, what they usually mean is this synchronization or sync license.

Synchronisations have been the most widely used licences in the music and audiovisual market for years.

This type of license is usually issued, as we mentioned before, by a music publisher or a music publishing company.

In situations where it is necessary to acquire this license, the producer of the audiovisual project will be responsible for obtaining the license, and not the network or company that broadcasts the project.

When a music track is used and synchronized with moving images a synchronization license is required.

However, for the recording of the audiovisual project, another music license will also be needed, known as the master use license or master license.

Master License

The master license is the one that authorizes the use of a music track in audiovisual projects to the person who acquires it.

At first glance, this license seems to be practically the same as the synchronization license because both are needed to use the music in moving image projects.

However, they have some significant differences.

Among them, one of the most important is that the master license transfers the rights to the original recording of the song to the customer.

In contrast, the synchronization license allows you to use the composition of a music track, i.e. the score and lyrics of the song, among other things to make new recordings or new versions of the original song.

Another difference between the two licenses is membership. Whereas the master license is usually held by the record companies that have recorded the artist’s piece of music, the synchronization license is usually held by the publishers, the composers, or, failing that, the authors themselves.

Therefore, if you need to use a song in audiovisual media such as television, video games, or commercials, you must obtain both licenses: the synchronization license and the master license.

Public Performance License

After the synchronization license, the public communication license is possibly the most used within the music licenses.

Also known as the performance license, this license is the one that allows the use of a music track for public broadcasting.

This includes everything from concerts to radio, television, live music played on business or on the street.

In short, it will be necessary to reproduce the musical work in any place that is frequented by the public, whether it is a locale, a discotheque, a store, a restaurant or any type of business. In other words,

every time someone reproduces known music for an audience they must obtain and pay for this license.

Those who usually hold the rights to this particular type of license are usually the copyright societies, also called Performance Rights Organizations , which differ depending on the country you are in:

These societies are the ones dedicated to collecting music royalties from each of the sources mentioned where the music track is played.

In turn, they will distribute these royalties to the artists according to the number of times their song has been reproduced, subtracting the commission from their services.

Mechanical License

Also known as a Mechanical License, the reproduction license is the one that allows a song to be reproduced and distributed in any media for a certain audience, and always for an exclusively private use of the music track.

This license is the one that entitles a company to set or record the music track in a medium or support to be reproduced.

That is to say, it is necessary to, for example, record a music CD, a vinyl, a cassette or any other support in which the music track is going to be distributed.

It also enables the customer of the music track to obtain copies of the music track, since the act of fixation also provides for the possibility of duplicating, for example, a disc for further marketing and sale.

It is worth mentioning that we will also need this license as long as we want to record our own version of a certain song, as well as for the export, in physical or digital format, of a video that uses the music track.

Print License

As the name suggests, the print rights license refers to the permission to make print copies of the scores of a given music track.

In other words, if you need to print out the score of a song in physical format, you will need this license.

This applies as long as you want to print, write, arrange or sell the score of a song, as well as if you want to use part of the lyrics of that song to include it on the back covers of a music CD or, for example, in the subtitles of a video on YouTube.

Theatrical License

This license is a somewhat private license.

The theatre license is only used in the theatre and it is the one that allows you to perform a certain song in a theatrical play.

In other words,

you need to acquire the theater license every time a copyrighted musical work is to be performed on a stage in the presence of an audience.

Now that you know about the licenses that move in the music world, it’s time for you to know something important.

For example, there are alternatives in the market that offer their “own” licenses and that will allow you to use music tracks and sound effects for the different projects we have mentioned above, such as videos in social networks, TV and radio commercials, video games or audiovisual projects with a commercial purpose.

These alternatives are called royalty-free music licenses and there are several platforms on the Internet that offer them at a much lower price than it would cost you to purchase the above licenses.

Conclusion

As you have seen,

music licenses are one of the most lucrative instruments in the growing music industry.

And the problem is that there are many actors behind each music track: the songwriters, the producers, the arrangers, the composers, the vocalists, the record companies, the PROs…

Each one of them, if they participate in the process of developing a track from its creation to its commercialization, has the right to share in the profits obtained each time the track is commercialized.

And that’s why there are six different types of licenses you’ve seen: the synchronization license, the master license, the reproduction license, the public performance license, the theatrical license and the print license.

All of them are licenses, but all of them are different and necessary for each use of a song.

And, depending on what you need the song for, you will have to ask permission from each of the actors mentioned above.

A quite complex process that can be simplified through the music licenses without copyrights.

You have already seen that this type of license offers, for a modest and reduced price, some features and characteristics that are very worthwhile to avoid problems and simplify the use of music in commercial projects.

We recommend you visit our related articles about what is royalty-free music or  how to license famous songs. C

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