giving away music free for a film -- ruins future sync deals?

April 29, 2015 8:22 AM

An indie film maker wants to use a song my band recorded and released for free. It's written by a friend's band and used with their permission. The film maker is asking to use it for free for a low-ish budget indie film. They have a contract, which states that they will use it for free and how they can use it (and that they do not have exclusive rights). We're pretty much ok with it, and so are the original songwriters. BUT... we've had interest in the past for commercial sync deals with this song. On two occasions, a sync company approached us to present the song to a client for commercials. Although these deals didn't work out, it's not unforeseeable that we get approached again, since this particular song seems to have commercial appeal. My question: if we give the song away for free to this film, will that ruin our chances of selling the song in the future? I know that legally, we can do whatever we want. However, would a sync company or their clients not want to use it if it had already appeared in a film?

Extra details:

- This is one of the very few ways that musicians see any money. I spend half my time working on music, so it is helpful if it sometimes pays off.
- One if the sync deals was for a commercial with a very large designer, which is why we still have this on our brains.
- I have no idea how successful this film could be... I've only seen silent clips and it looks fairly slick, well shot, but I don't have a sense of the content.

posted by cejl to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

Film placement often increases the demand for a song.
posted by Jairus at 8:58 AM on April 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

I wouldn't give it away. They can come up with something. Film placement in a lousy film won't help you much. Does their contract include advertising, trailer, etc.?
posted by Ideefixe at 9:11 AM on April 29, 2015

I would ask them to come up with something, even if it is a token amount.

I would also find out more about the film...if you have no idea what the content is, you don't want to accidentially give away your music to, like, a yay racism! film (or whatever other objectionable content)...I think having your song associated with a cool film could potentially be a good thing (or a nothing thing, who knows), but having your song associated with a film that ends up becoming infamous for something bad has the potential to be really bad for you.
posted by rainbowbrite at 9:15 AM on April 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Ideefixe: It includes "...timed relation with visual images comprising the Picture and in connection with the exhibition, distribution, other in-context exploitation, publicizing, advertising and/or promotion of the Picture by means of all media by any and all means now known or hereafter devised, including without limitation, theatrical, free, pay cable and subscription television, CATV, closed circuit into homes television, air screen, television and in-context audio visual trailers, advertising and promotion, and a worldwide videogram buy out (which includes stream, digital downloads and physical units)"

rainbowbrite: Good point! I do have a general plot synopsis of the film, and there are no red flags... I'm not concerned that it will controversial.
posted by cejl at 9:18 AM on April 29, 2015

Can you not charge them what you consider a fair rate for the song, and then donate back 95 to 99 percent of that as a patron of the arts?
posted by 256 at 11:34 AM on April 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Songs get used in movies and tv and ads over and over and over again. You can't throw a rock in L.A. without hitting a literal-minded music supervisor who wants to soundtrack a scene of someone earning respect with the song "Respect."

It may be too late, but as I understand it, when people give indie filmmakers a "deal" they give them only "festival rights," meaning they can use it to exhibit not-for-profit at festivals and such. Then, if they happen to go to Sundance and get bought by a distributor, you'd re-negotiate for the "real" release. (This can sometimes lead to movies changing the music when they can no longer afford the rights.)
posted by drjimmy11 at 11:57 AM on April 29, 2015 [6 favorites]

Seconding drjimmy11. Giving the right to use the music away is fine if they're not making money, but if they do end up making money off this, you shouldn't close yourself off to earning at least some of that money from the use of your music, non-exculsive rights or no. They're asking you to give up way too much for free with the contract text you outlined. If they give you some BS about it being "for exposure" when you press the issue, then they are not people you want to deal with anyway.
posted by Aleyn at 10:50 PM on April 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Wow, this is really helpful. I have been researching the "festival rights" route, but does anyone know if there is some kind of standard contract or form for this kind of agreement?
posted by cejl at 9:15 AM on April 30, 2015