You need to have permission in order to put someone’s music into a film, television programs, video games, advertising, social media outlets, etc. This process of requesting and negotiating a fee and receiving permission is called “music clearance.” After one has received clearance, the process of issuing contracts and payment is called “licensing”. To put a recording underneath picture (to “synchronize”) requires two types of rights clearances, the “Sync Rights” and the “Master Recording Rights”. “Sync Rights” are for the actual words and music used (the “Composition”). “Master Recording Rights” are for the specific recording of that composition (the “Master”).

EXAMPLE… if your film needs the acoustic version of “I Try” as recorded by Ben Taylor, there are two clearances: the “sync rights” for the composition, owned by the writers’ publishers and the “Master Rights” for the recording, owned by Ben Taylor’s record label which is us (Iris Records).

All requests need to be in writing. We’ll be happy to speak with you on the phone, but we will not take clearance requests over the phone. Written requests can be faxed or emailed if in a PDF non editable form. Clearances and licenses are legal documents. If you don’t have access to a fax or are unable to create a PDF and you are serious about licensing music for a project, give us a call. I’m sure we can work something out.

Requests need to include the following info.:
1. Your name, company name, address, phone/fax/email
2. Project name, synopsis, music budget, any other important production detail
3. Song title, artist, album title, record label
4. Scene description – describe the scene in the movie/show
5. Use & timing – instrumental or vocal? How long is the music use?
6. Rights requested (length of term, territories needed, media needed)
7. Deadline for clearance

It completely depends on the situation, popularity of the song and artist, how it’s being used and for how long, etc. That being said, some artists/songs are more expensive than others. In general, We will work with you and try our best to make the placement work.

No, not even one note. You’ll find it much more pleasant to get permission ahead of time instead of having a lawyer or right’s holder call you, costing a fortune in legal and licensing fees. Please contact us for any use of our music or to help with your outside music needs.

If it’s a song we administer, No. It happens. It’s the same with any label or publisher. You only pay if you use the song.

If you are looking to licensing a song outside of our catalog,  we’ll charge a fee depending on how far down the road we get with initial research & negotiations with the rights holders but you don’t pay for the actual license unless you use it. All cost structures are discussed up front.

For a one-stop song, it will normally be done within 24 hours. If there are outside publishers, or if we need to speak with the artist or writers, it can take a little bit longer. In the case of a song with major publishers, it’s at their discretion. Normally we’ll be able to estimate for you on a case by case basis.

A “one-stop” clearance means that we can provide clearances and licensing for both sync and master rights. Approval from an outside publisher (such as Warner/Chappell, or any other publisher) is unnecessary in this case. Much of our music is one-stop, helping us to provide easier, faster, and often times less expensive clearances.

We do take on new record labels or possibly artists when the correct situations arise. The best way for you to inquire about this would be to email us information about your label or music. If you have a website to point us to, great. If not, that’s ok too.
DO NOT mail us a random package of your music as it will not be opened or listened to.

No. Our artists will just come back to us to clear the song anyways and will just slow down the process for you. Plus artists usually don’t want to deal with this directly.

Every situation is different but you need to get a license from us no matter what. We are all about the indie spirit, and it’s important to us that our artists and writers get paid for what they do so they can make a living at it but we also would like to support like-minded filmmakers. Feel free to contact us to discuss.