What does M2K Music Licensing
Do?
We manage songs and make sure the
songwriters make money from the
songs.
What are the kinds of songs you
manage?
We manage songs from many genres,
including Philippine classics,
like those from our National
Artist, Col Antonino Buenaventura.
Some are just instrumentals without
lyrics, but most of the songs are
Filipino pop songs with lyrics.
Since we are not a record label,
we don’t
have the sound masters of these
songs and only have the demo versions
cut by the songwriters themselves.
However, since several of our
songwriters own both the rights
of the song and the sound master,
M2K can negotiate both deals with
interested music
users. We deal both published
and unpublished songs.
M2K does NOT:
- Manage artists – that’s
a talent manager’s job
- Record or produce songs for
artists – that’s a
record label’s job
- Look for artists to sign –
that’s a talent scout or
booking agent’s job
- Publish songs – that’s
a music publisher’s job
- Book artists to sing at events
– that’s a booking
agent’s job
Really? Songs can make money?
How?!!
In a word: usage.
With the blessing of our member
songwriter himself, we can grant
any interested third party the RIGHT
to use his song for commercial purposes.
Because if your song is really
good, it’s very, very valuable.
Not only can it move people emotionally,
it can move them physically to pay
more attention to a certain movie,
a certain album, a certain product,
and that’s great news for
anyone doing business.
A GOOD SONG – a hit song.
Cuts across markets. Immediately
likeable at first listen. Great
hook. It’s not true that you
don’t know what it is. You
know what a good song is. Right
away!
TYPES OF MUSIC USAGES
1. SYNCHRONIZATION DEAL
Film and TV producers (through
their respective music researchers)
will want to use your good song
for their films in any one of the
following ways:
- as main theme song
and title (“Till I Met You ”
from movie of the same title);
- main theme song and background
(“Friend of Mine”
from Close To You, Star Cinema);
- incidental music (“Smile
In Your Heart ?” from
Can This Be Love, Star Cinema) –
lines of the song is sung by
a character for a short while.
- background
music (“A
Smile In Your Heart”)
. Different from incidental
music only in terms of length
of time used.
2. MECHANICAL DEAL
Record labels will want to use
it for their artists to sing on
their albums (CDs and cassettes).This
deal is called MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION.
3. MECHANICAL AND
SYNCHRONIZATION DEAL
Record labels will want to use
it for a music video of the song
embedded in an audio CD (or as VCD).
Film and video producers will want
to include it in a DVD or VCD of
a live concert or as bonus material
for a movie.
Since there is a visual aspect
involved, the deal is called MECHANICAL
REPRODUCTION AND SYNCHRONIZATION.
4. CALLER RING BACK TUNE
AND RINGTONE DEALS
Telephone companies will want to
use it as ringtone (poly and mono)
for their cell phone services. This
is a RINGTONE deal.
Content providers will want to
use it as Caller Ring Back Tune
for cell phone services for telephone
companies.
The income the songwriter gets
from these deals is called ROYALTY.
So M2K is not offering any tangible
product, just “rights”?
Given the economic climate here
in the Philippines, it seems that
one will make better business if
he offers something that the consumer
can actually see, hear or touch,
like an actual recording of a song.
How can M2K or the songwriter make
a claim on a song whose recording
was paid for by someone else, like
a record producer?
There is a difference between copyright
ownership of the song and ownership
of the sound master of the song.
The right to the sound master of
the song is usually owned by whoever
produced it. The songwriter gets
to keep at least 50% copyright ownership
of the song, and then negotiates
the rest of the 50% to a publisher,
who will exploit its usages and
to which the songwriter is usually
entitled a percentage, depending
on the agreement. It’s the
intellectual property rights LAW.
Without this law, how can songwriters
earn a living?
Hey guys! A company
is interested in my song, and they’re
willing to pay me an advance royalty,
like P5,000. Is that a good deal?
It can be, for as long as they
don’t get the publishing
rights to it FOR LIFE. In the
United States and elsewhere,
it is not advisable to allow
any company to own your song
for life ("in perpetuity").
Why would anybody want to manage
songs? What’s in it for M2K?
There is income to be made from
managing songs. On the initial deal,
we only get 20% commission and then
10% from succeeding deals. As a
company seeking to advance the interests
of creative artists, we make sure
that a good part of this income
goes to the copyright owners themselves
– the songwriters.
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