IMPORTANT:

Master Use (the actual Sound Recording) License must be obtained from the applicable record company. There is no need to obtain a master use license if you are creating your own recording of the song, but you must obtain a license from the owners of the copyright to the song on behalf of the songwriters (commonly referred to as synchronization license).

Explanation of terms:

Media – The scope of the media rights you will need covered in the license. Common examples would be broad theatrical rights including home video, television show, TV commercial, radio commercial, streaming use on the internet, film festivals, and in-house videos (e.g. trade show, conference, and corporate meetings).

Territory – The territory within which you intend to distribute your project, and therefore, required to be covered by the license (e.g. limited to a specific city/state, United States, United States and Canada, Worldwide). Please note that the territory requested will have a direct impact on the license fee quoted. Arrangements can be made for limited media up front with additional media negotiated as options, thus saving up front costs (e.g. initial license would only cover film festivals, with additional separate options for distribution in television and home video).

Term – Length of time you intend to distribute your project, and therefore need covered in the license (e.g. 1 year, 5 years, perpetuity). Please note that the term requested will have a direct impact on the license fee quoted. Arrangements can be made for a short initial terms with additional terms negotiated as options, thus saving up front costs.

IMPORTANT:

Master Use (the actual Sound Recording) License must be obtained from the applicable record company. There is no need to obtain a master use license if you are creating your own recording of the song, but you must obtain a license from the owners of the copyright to the song on behalf of the songwriters (commonly referred to as synchronization license).

IMPORTANT:

Master Use (the actual Sound Recording) License must be obtained from the applicable record company. There is no need to obtain a master use license if you are creating your own recording of the song, but you must obtain a license from the owners of the copyright to the song on behalf of the songwriters (commonly referred to as synchronization license).

Explanation of Terms

Media – The scope of the media rights you will need covered in the license. Common examples would be broad theatrical rights including home video, television show, TV commercial, radio commercial, streaming use on the internet, film festivals, and in-house videos (e.g. trade show, conference, and corporate meetings).

Territory – The territory within which you intend to distribute your project, and therefore, required to be covered by the license (e.g. limited to a specific city/state, United States, United States and Canada, Worldwide). Please note that the territory requested will have a direct impact on the license fee quoted. Arrangements can be made for limited media up front with additional media negotiated as options, thus saving up front costs (e.g. initial license would only cover film festivals, with additional separate options for distribution in television and home video).

Term – Length of time you intend to distribute your project, and therefore need covered in the license (e.g. 1 year, 5 years, perpetuity). Please note that the term requested will have a direct impact on the license fee quoted. Arrangements can be made for a short initial terms with additional terms negotiated as options, thus saving up front costs.

IMPORTANT:

Please research your song before submitting forms so that you can be sure that your request is being submitted to the UMPG correctly. Failure to do proper research will result in delays in processing your request.

SYNCH / PUBLISHING
To determine the publishers for a given song, please refer to www.ascap.com and www.bmi.com. These performing rights societies are a useful tool in helping you determine the writers, performance society of affiliation and the respective music publishers for a song. It is your responsibility as a licensee to clear 100% of the publishing for a song before using it. In many cases, there are multiple publishers for a given song. You must contact ALL publishers in order to clear the publishing for a song. PLEASE ALLOW TIME IN YOUR CLEARANCE PROCESS TO OBTAIN A FORMAL RESPONSE FROM UMPG ON YOUR PROPOSED SYNC USE.

Instructions for Completing the Synchronization Request Form

Song Title
State the title of the song you would like to license.
Song Writer(s)
Please list writers full names
Publisher(s)
State the names of all publishers associated with the song – Research this information with the performance rights societies see ascap.com and/or bmi.com or sesac.com for this information.
Licensee
State the name of the company, person or entity that will be the legally responsible licensee for execution of formal agreements and payment for the use of the composition(s). (taxpayers i.d. information is not needed)
Production Name
State the title of the production. If this use is planned for TV broadcast then please indicate the network, channel or local station (if regional) that the production which will exhibit the production. Also, provide a synopsis of your production (you may use a separate sheet and include that with the request form if needed).
Synopsis
Describe in at least one paragraph what the film is about. We need to know as much as possible about a project before allowing a song to be used in it. Usually one paragraph will suffice.
Media (initial media of exhibition to be licensed)
Describe the media you plan to exhibit the production in – some examples include: TV (Free TV, Basic Cable, Pay Cable, Video On Demand or All TV Media (inclusive of all forms of TV), Theatrical (specify maximum number of screens or distributor if major), film festival, Videograms (DVD/Blu-Ray, etc.) either specified as a and maximum number of copies that will be produced regardless of cost to the consumer (if the rights for Videogram are for perpetuity then a maximum number of copies designation is not necessary, however, please note that a perpetuity buyout will incur a higher cost for your production as opposed to a limited term maximum number of units being produced), Internet Downloadable (specify whether “permanent” or “temporary”, Internet streaming only, radio (if for promo/advertising use), All Media (all forms of media exhibition licenses will incur the highest fee). Arrangements can be made for limited media up front with additional media negotiated as options, thus saving up front costs (e.g. initial license would only cover film festivals, with additional separate options for distribution in television and home video).
Description of Use
Describe the scene in which you would like to use the song you are requesting.
Artist/Master/Album
Which recording and artist are you planning on using? If no master* will be used then simply state “no master”. If this is a planned re-record/cover of the composition then please state who will be performing. *Master Use (the actual Sound Recording) License must be obtained from the applicable record company. There is no need to obtain a master use license if you are creating your own recording of the song, but you must obtain a license from the owners of the copyright to the song on behalf of the songwriters (commonly referred to as synchronization license).
Type Of Use / Length
Designate what type of sync use this is planned for, i.e. Background Vocal (BV), Visual Vocal (VV), Background Instrumental only (BI), Visual Instrumental (VI), or combinations therein. If the song is being played from a source that is referenced in the scene either visually or via dialogue then designate the use additionally as also being Visual Source (VS) and what type of source is the song is being played from (car radio, home stereo, i-Pod, DJ turntables, etc.) State the type of use that is being proposed. For example, (BV) Background Vocal, (BI) Background Instrumental w/o vocal, (VV) Visual Vocal, etc. Also note the length of the music use in the scene. If you are requesting multiple uses, state the number and maximum length of each.
Term
State the length of time you would like license to cover for the sync of the song within the media you are planning to exhibit it within. (NOTE: Terms lengths can range from one-day to perpetuity and will be a factor in the fee for the license with longer terms garnering higher fees.) Licenses for film festivals are generally issued for a term of one (1) year. Rights to use a song in perpetuity allow the licensee to use the song in the project with no expiration of the license.
Territory
State the territory of exhibition and/or distribution for your production. If your project will only be exhibited in the USA then note that. If you would like to secure rights to show the project anywhere in the world then state the territory accordingly as “worldwide”.
Release / Air Date
State the date your project will be first exhibited and/or distributed. If you do not know the exact date, please estimate to the best of your ability. This date is most often the date that the term of the license will commence from.
Options
If you are requiring additional media rights to possibly exhibit your production within in the future then note those in this section of the form along with the respective territory and term for each. Refer to the “Media” section above for examples of additional media rights you may require later.

IMPORTANT:

Please fill out this form to request permission to use a UMPG composition in your program.

In order for us to process your request, we require that you provide us with all of the requested information. Omitting any criteria will delay the licensing process, and/or invalidate any quote, approval, or license. Terms and fees are on a Most Favored Nations (MFN) basis with master and co-publisher(s), if applicable.

Please allow time in your clearance process to obtain a formal response from UMPG on your proposed sync use.

Please limit (1) quote request per song.

You can refer to the performance rights societies ASCAP.COM, BMI.COM, and SESAC.COM to research co-publishing ownership (if applicable). These performing rights societies are a useful tool in helping you determine what music publisher(s) control what writer(s). It is your responsibility as a licensee to clear 100% of the writer(s) publishing for a song before using it. In many cases there are multiple publishers for a given song, as there are multiple writers. You must contact and submit requests to ALL publishers in order to obtain approval to use a song. It is also your responsibility as the licensee to clear the master recording separately with the record label (if applicable). UMPG has no part in the master or co-publishing clearance. A good website to use to determine what label controls the master is ALLMUSIC.COM. You can find contact information for labels via the Internet.

UMPG can grant only those rights to which it owns or controls. We also may only have partial copyright interest in some of the songs. It is your responsibility to obtain licenses from all copyright owners who own or control rights to the requested song in the territory noted. To determine the publishers for a given song, please refer to www.ascap.com and www.bmi.com.

IMPORTANT:

Master Use (the actual Sound Recording) License must be obtained from the applicable record company. There is no need to obtain a master use license if you are creating your own recording of the song, but you must obtain a license from the owners of the copyright to the song on behalf of the songwriters (commonly referred to as synchronization license).