Years ago I wrote jingles and commercial soundtracks on a weekly basis. Most of those tracks were created on a handshake which worked for everyone involved. The producer got exactly the music they needed at the time they needed it.
And I, the musician, acquired a small piece of property for which I could charge others (i.e. production music licensing fees) if they wanted to use it later.
But this opportunity wasn’t always a given.
Some organizations, usually very large ones, would have me sign a boilerplate vendor form which usually included the fatal words, “work for hire”. With these three words, suddenly the project becomes far less appealing financially because of the opportunity cost. I won’t be able to license that music after-the-fact.
More on this topic later….
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Mike Bielenberg is a professional musician and co-founder of http://www.musicrevolution.com, a production music marketplace where media producers and business owners can license high-quality, affordable music from a online community of musicians.
