Hi All,

I thought I would write a helpful little blog about music! My friend Andy P has already written a really interesting blog on how to find royalty free music, which you can find here:

http://www.filmannex.com/posts/blog_show_post/working-with-others-music/56802

However, if you know that song you want and you just can't bare to find an alternative, heres how you can go about doing it- there are a few guides online, but they are quite hard to follow, and seemed to be aimed more at music industry people, who are completely clued up on all the terminology, unlike myself!

A good place to start is to look at the 'Performing Rights Societies'. They deal with royalties, and making sure artists, song writers and publishers get paid when their song is played/ used.  The main three are these guys:
www.ascap.com, www.bmi.com and www.sesac.com.

Every song out there that holds copyrights will be on one of these websites. The idea is to search through their library (Its a little different on each website, on ASCAP its as easy as going to the 'Ace Repertory' and typing in the song you are looking for). This will bring up a big list of songs with the same name. Make sure you know the version you are using, and possibly the writer and year of release so you can make sure you are looking at the right version, and song!

Next, look at who the publishers are. It may have just one, it may have 2 or 3. You will need to get in touch with these companies and try to obtain permission from them. Luckily, these websites are pretty nice and often provide you with an email and phone number of the publishers, so you don't have to look much farther for information.

Next... you have to get in touch with them! This is the tricky bit. The busy companies take forever to answer emails, and never seem to answer the phone. So make your first email as consise, and with as much info as possible so there doesn't need to be too much tooing and froing before you can get down to the nitty gritty. Include the following info at least, and more if you need:

- Synopsis of the entire film
- Detailed Scene description (where the song is playing)
- Song usage (In and out points of the song, e.g beginning at 2 mins 20 seconds) & finishing at 3.10 of the song)
- How the song is used, for what reasoning
- Where are you going to be putting the film? E.g. which websites, any film festivals? And how long will it be circulating online and in the festival market for.

Be as detailed as you can when asking about the song. Don't just say, I want to use "The song from the full monty" or something. Tell them the track name, who wrote it, when it was released, and as much info as you can. it makes you look more professional and it makes the process easier for them, and you.

You may also need to get in touch with the actual record company... sometimes this is also listed under the publishers... its all a bit confusing... however the more people you contact, the less people might turn around in a years time and tell you to take down you're amazing award winning short...! So do your research into the song and find every single company involved.

Lastly, follow up with a phonecall. Like I said, they take forever to reply to emails, but if you ring them, even if you have to leave a message, it just seems to push things forward a little.

From then, they may ask you to pay, but depending on what you are using the film for, you might be able to get away with paying nothing (if they are feeling nice). However, if they ever think you might earn money from the work, than you might have to pay. Be as nice, sweet, polite and as complimentary as possible. Sweet talk them, and don't take no for an answer (In a nice way). It might not always work... but you might get a nice guy on a good day who thinks... why the hell not, and lets you use it free of charge! Once you have that permission, you're home free!- As long as you haven't lied, or forgotten an important piece of information!

Hope this helps someone out! It was a bit of a minefield working this out, starting afresh... but its pretty straight forward when you work out who's who!