Synchronization rights

A music synchronization license, or "sync" for short, is a music license granted by the holder of the copyright of a particular composition, allowing the licensee to synchronize ("sync") music with some kind of visual media output (film, television shows, advertisements, video games, accompanying website music, movie trailers, etc.).^[1]

Copyright ownership

The rights to a composition or the "song", which is different from the studio sound recording,^[2] are most often administered by the publishing company that represents the writer/producer. The value in the copyright of a recording is divided into two components:

1. the "master" sound recording, which is the actual studio recording of the song and most often owned by the record label;
2. the composition, which consists of the underlying lyrics and melody written by the songwriter and is typically administered by the music publisher.

Sync negotiations and fees

When an audio/visual project producer wants to use a recording in their work, they must contact both the owner of the sound recording (record label), and the owner of the composition (songwriter via publishing company). In many cases, producers with tight budgets will elect to use a cover version of a particular song in order to save money on the master side. Once the producer has made an inquiry with the copyright administrator (and additionally the record label if they choose to use a famous recording), the rights holder or administrator issues a quote, usually for a one-time fee. This can initiate negotiations, whose points of interest usually include things like how the work is being used, the length of the segment, the prominence of the cue (whether used as background music, or as the title track during the credits), and the overall popularity and importance of the song or recording. Sync licensing fees can range anywhere from free, to a few hundred dollars, to tens of thousands of dollars for popular recordings of songs: in the last case, the producer must pay for both the use of the master and the composition.

References

1. Leadsinger, Inc. v. BMG Music Publishing, 512 F.3d 522 (9th Cir. 2008).
2. Newton v. Diamond, 388 F.3d 1189, 1191 (9th Cir. 2004).