TV/Film Song Placement

When a producer wants to use an existing musical composition in a network television program or weekly series, permission must, with few exceptions, be secured from the music publisher who owns the song. The producer or music supervisor of the show will decide what song they want to use in the program and the scene in which it will appear, how the song will be used (e.g., background vocal or instrumental, sung by a character on camera, over the opening or ending credits), and the media needed (e.g., free television, pay television, subscription television, pay-per-view, or basic cable).

The producer or its "music clearance" representative will then contact the publisher of the composition, describe the context of the program and particular scene in which the song will be used; ask for a specified period of time to use the song in the program (usually from 5 years to life of copyright), negotiate a fee, and then sign what is known in the television business as a "synchronization license."

In most cases, the "synch license" is signed after the first broadcast of the program, but the negotiations and securing of permission to use a song virtually always occur prior to putting the song in the program or, at the latest, prior to the initial broadcast date.

Many television programs secure price quotations from music publishers for the use of songs either during the scriptwriting stages of a project or immediately after a final script for an episode has been approved. Some weekly series, however, clear music while scenes are being shot or, because of impromptu ad-libs during taping, last-minute additions, or editing delays, a few days prior to actual broadcast and sometimes even after the airing.

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