When you buy a tune, make sure your license covers you for all three necessary rights:

1. Mechanical
2. Synchronization
3. Public Performance

Many licenses offered today are not really licenses at all. Call the library and ask about the rights you think you are buying. And get it in writing. That’s what you’re paying for.

Don’t Settle for a Bogus Buy Out

If you think you are buying a tune on a buy out or royalty free basis, you should be paying one up front fee to cover a wide array of licensed uses. Not a separate charge for each use. Make sure what you’re getting is a “lifetime blanket” not what amounts to a “needle drop” or “production blanket”.

The terms “Royalty Free” and “Buy out” are now being distorted by some newcomers seeking to get you to pay for each use. What they’ve really done is re-invent the old “needle drop” or “royalty per use” system. Yes, you can sometimes get a “buy out” in a given category of use but the relevant question is what is the “buy out” price for the entire bundle of uses “usual and necessary” in our industry.

“Royalty Free” licensing as practiced by leading “Buy Out” / “Royalty Free” music libraries, requires a single, up front fee for the bundling of all possible licensed “needle drops”, “production blankets” and “annual blankets” for the full length of the term, usually 50-99 years.

Yes, most reputable and quality oriented libraries have logical exclusions in their licenses (e.g. theatrical motion pictures, national tv spots, or mass marketed products over say 50,000 units). But remember, it is the size of the standard “royalty free bundle” that counts not the price for a given use (“needle drop or royalty per use”). And it is important to note, that the reason exclusions are in standard licenses is not to deprive licensees of uses but rather to set in place the mechanics by which those uses are trackable. Most excluded uses are available at a very nominal charge or a charge that is often waived.

When a library claims it is “royalty free” because you don’t pay any fee for broadcast public performance, this is a distortion. Virtually all music libraries are royalty free with this definition. Music libraries get revenue two ways: 1) master use and synch fees, and 2) royalties paid by broadcasters to ASCAP and BMI for broadcast public performances.

It all boils down to this. You can pay your master use and sync fees on a “per use” basis (called a “needle drop” “production blanket” or “annual blanket”) or you can pay for a bundling of all needle drops, production blankets and annual blankets in one upfront fee -- a “lifetime blanket”.

A needle drop can seem to be a reasonable fee. But remember those fees add up. And that’s exactly what you should do when you think about a given library. Add up both the short run and long run costs. A lifetime blanket is an investment in an asset. A royalty per use is just an expense.

CSS Music and D.A.W.N.- Your Better Buy Outs!

Your purchases of music from CSS Music (CDs, CD-ROMs, Custom CD-Rs and Hard Drives) are “lifetime blankets”. Your downloads of CSS Music on D.A.W.N. while similar in appearance to needle drops are NOT NEEDLE DROPS. Each selection is licensed for the full bundle of licensed uses for 99 years. Use each tune or download as many times as you like in as many licensed productions as you can do in 99 years. Apply that simple test to any other library licensing scheme.

If you have questions about Royalty Free, Buy Out, or Life Time Blanket Licensing and how it compares to “needle drop”, “production blanket” and “annual blanket” licensing, please give us a call at 1800-468-6874.
We’re happy to help.