Cinema Law: Music Licensing for the Internet?

by Gregory Gabriel | Published April 20, 2009

Welcome to “Cinema Law,” MovieMaker.com’s all-new blog where you ask the questions of our resident team of legal experts and, each week, they’ll provide the answers to your production queries. Have a burning question yourself? E-mail it to and your question may just be on next week’s blog! Cinema Law is presented as general information only and is not meant to take the place of professional legal advice.

Q: There’s a popular song I want to use for my trailer and post online. How does music licensing work for the Internet? Sites like YouTube? IMDb? The movie’s own official site?

A: The first thing anyone seeking to license a recorded piece of music must understand is that in every recording there exists two separate and distinct copyrights, and each of these copyrights are often owned by separate individuals or entities. The first copyright is the copyright in the musical composition itself, which consists of the music and lyrics. Such copyrights are referred to in the music industry as the publishing rights. The second copyright is the copyright granted to the recording artists’ rendition of the musical composition as embodied in the physical recording of the composition, known as the sound recording. Such copyrights are referred to as the master rights. For example, Guns N’ Roses wrote and recorded Welcome to the Jungle in 1987. Accordingly, GNR owned the copyright in the musical composition itself and in their unique recorded version of the composition. However, typically the recording artist assigns the sound recording to the record label while maintaining the publishing rights for itself (which the artists generally assigns to a publishing administrator). Now assume that the White Stripes’ next album contains a cover recording of Welcome to the Jungle (okay, maybe wishful thinking, but this lawyer certainly would enjoy that). The White Stripes would own the copyright in their unique recording of the song, but GNR would still own the copyright in the composition and the band would receive a royalty from every sale of the cover version.

In order to combine a recording of a song with video—regardless of the medium in which the video will appear (i.e. on the Internet, on T.V., in a movie, etc.)—you must obtain two licenses: One for use of the musical composition and one for use of the sound recording. The license for the composition is referred to as synchronization license, while the license for the sound recording is referred to as a master use license. Using the example above, if you wanted to use The White Stripe’s version of Welcome to the Jungle, you would need to obtain a synchronization license (which refers to the process of “synchronizing” a musical composition in timed relation to the visual images) from GNR for use of the musical composition and a master use license from The White Stripes for use of the sound recording (again, assuming neither of them have assigned their copyrights to someone else).

So what does all of this mean for you? You need to seek out the owners of the copyrights in the song you want to use, explain to them what your intended use is and negotiate a license with them for such use. You can generally find this information by accessing the website for the United States Copyright Office and searching its records for the name of the song. While the owner of a musical composition cannot say “no” to someone who wants to record a cover of the composition, the decision regarding whether or not to grant you these licenses for use with video is completely within the discretion of the copyright owners. Accordingly, before you enter into a license agreement for use of the composition and/or the recording in a film, make sure both copyright owners are on board.

Gregory Gabriel, an attorney at Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert, a high-profile, L.A.-based entertainment litigation firm, focuses primarily on music, entertainment and intellectual property litigation with extensive experience in copyright, trademark, right of publicity issues and contract issues. His intimate understanding of the law in this area has resulted in efficient victories for our clients. Gabriel recently assisted in the defense of Sanctuary Records against a multitude of claims by Mike Love from the Beach Boys in two separate lawsuits.  Love’s complaints included claims for conspiracy, right of publicity violations as well as trademark and copyright infringement among other things. Gabriel helped obtain a dismissal of every one of Mr. Love’s claims by motion, which resulted in a published opinion: Mike Love v. The Mail on Sunday, 473 F.Supp.2d 1052 (C.D.Cal. 2007).  In addition, Gabriel helped obtain an attorneys’ fee award in favor of Sanctuary in both cases.

COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT

Comment by Directory Submission Service on 5/28/09 at 7:22 am

ASCAP first offered a license agreement for performances of its members’ music by way of Internet transmissions in 1995. Since that time, ASCAP has licensed and worked with thousands of internet and wireless services to develop economical and efficient licensing solutions for the rapidly growing and evolving new media marketplace.

Comment by facebook backgrounds on 7/20/10 at 4:44 am

You absolutely need an attorney who specializes in intellectual property to negotiate and review licenses for the copyrighted material. She/he can advise you first whether this is possible, then outline procedures and costs. Imperative! You must have an attorney on this facebook backgrounds

Comment by Infant Snowsuit on 10/06/10 at 5:28 pm

People disrespect these copyright laws all the time. The amount of piracy on YouTube, for instance, is incredible.

Comment by rajin khan on 2/23/11 at 7:30 am

I am very interested for this post.This site is so helpful. So i want some information

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Comment by دردشة كازنوفا on 3/11/11 at 3:02 pm

very interested for this post.This site is so helpful. So i want some information

Comment by دردشة كازنوفا on 3/11/11 at 3:02 pm

very interested for this post.This site is so helpful. So i want some information

Comment by essay service on 4/14/11 at 1:48 am

The copyright law of the US, requires authorization from copyright owners. You must pay for the use of musical property.

Comment by killer Hype on 5/06/11 at 2:42 pm

Great article. You should have some one look at the license if the music placement is significant in terms of usage and money.

Comment by music licensing on 5/22/11 at 3:15 am

I agree that people need to get the proper license for music they are using.  Artists made that music and deserve to paid for it

Comment by DavieAlvin on 7/15/11 at 9:41 am

But if I would like to play one of Guns N’ Roses melodies on my Gainesville guitar in a public but without having any income off it, would I still have to go through the copyright process? I understand that the musical composition is theirs but I want to play a cover version for free.

Comment by mireek on 3/20/12 at 6:39 am

Every use of music inside another production (film, documentary etc) requires a Sync License and a Master Use license. The point is in which model you decide to follow. If you go the traditional way the fee would be negotiable between the music copyright holder (publisher, recording rights owner etc) and the film creator and would be based on facts such as territory where the film would be distributed , number of copies for commercial use, time duration of the license etc. The other option is licensing music from stock music libraries where all rights can be acquired for a single one off fee without all above criteria. All these refer to the Sync and not the Broadcast license. When and if the movie is broadcasted, broadcaster such as cinemas, tv stations etc report to Performance Rights Organizations every use of music so that composers receive their Broadcast Royalties.(this cost does not affect the “producers” of the film who are only responsible for the “Sync"license).

Cheers, Yannis
Royalty Free Music / Stock Music at themusicase.com

Comment by Ian Francisco on 4/18/12 at 3:47 am

To be somewhat safe, consult a law firm regarding the problem,Aaron Kelly would be a good choice

Comment by Ian Francisco on 4/18/12 at 3:49 am

To be somewhat safe, consult a law firm regarding the problem,Aaron Kelly would be a good choice

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