WHAT IS MUSIC SUPERVISION?
If you create films, commercials, or podcasts, you’ve likely faced the challenge of finding the right music. Whether you’re a huge agency creating a commercial for a fortune 500, or an independent filmmaker producing a film festival hopeful, at some point in your creative process, you need to find music that compliments your vision and captivates your audience’s attention. Maybe you know the sound and style of music you’re looking for, but need to find a high-quality song that works within your budget. Or, you’ve found the perfect track already, but your project has complex distribution and you need a customized licensing agreement.
Even today’s biggest production companies turn to music supervision services to provide professional and legal support in music selection and licensing. Why? Music supervision requires a lot of grunt work — researching and curating an array of options, contacting the content creator and what can be lengthy and complicated negotiations. It also requires a certain level of expertise — whether that’s understanding what would be a fair market value for a song or knowing how to negotiate terms of a license. Mishandling any step of the process could leave you without your song of choice, surprise restrictions in your distribution, or worse, a lawsuit.
Music supervision services exist to solve these common problems and outsource the extra workload. Music supervision services typically include:
- Music research services
- Music licensing agreements and negotiations
- Music licensing attorneys
Who cares about music supervision?
Anyone who uses music in their visual or audio projects should consider music supervision services. While projects with minimal budgets may find suitable rights-cleared music on stock sites, finding unique and quality music on these sites can be a challenge. Music supervisors can find captivating, distinctive and high quality songs and sounds, from popular hits to obscure and underground. Music supervision services will find and clear the right music for your project, making sure it’s properly licensed and works within your budget.
Kurator is able to work with you at any step in your process — from curating a selection of tracks that compliment your vision, or handling licensing negotiations for your preferred song. Kurator’s music supervision team provides professional and legal support in music selection and licensing that works within your budget and timeline.
When should you care about music supervision?
The right music sets the tone, pacing and feel of your project. In some cases the music may come first and drive the rest of your creative process. But, in many cases selecting music comes after you’ve shot or recorded your content. While each creative process is different, all projects should at least consider the music selection during pre-production and budgeting. Decide what your budget is and how you plan to source your music. Thinking about this early will ensure you’re music is clear-able when you need it and help avoid last-minute legal anxiety.
Kurator is able to work with you at any step in your process — from those early questions around where and how to find music that fits your budget, to curating a selection of tracks that compliment your vision, or handling licensing negotiations for your preferred song. Kurator’s music supervision team provides fast and professional support in music selection and licensing.
Why should you care about music supervision?
Finding and legally securing music for your project can be complex. Maybe you don’t know where and how to find quality music that’s within your budget. Or, you’ve found the perfect track already, but your project has complex distribution and you need a customized licensing agreement. Finding the right music is time consuming and licensing music can require complex legal expertise. Turning to music supervision services can save you time, money and legal anxiety.
Getting proper music supervision can also help you avoid things going wrong. Maybe you sign an agreement but didn’t realize the terms were (slightly off) (were unclear of the details), impacting your distribution and limiting the reach of your campaign. Or, maybe your lack of understanding of the fair market value of a song means you never heard back from the artist or record label at all. Hiring a music supervision team will help you avoid these common music sourcing pitfalls.
WHY KURATOR?
Kurator has over 20 years of experience in digital rights management. Our team of music experts leverage industry connections and leave no stone unturned in their search to find the best music for your project. And with an in-house legal team, Kurator specializes in creating, reviewing and negotiating music licensing agreements. And, we can help remove or lower legal risk with custom indemnification agreements.
Learn more about our previous projects and how we can help you nail your next music or video licensing project.