Corbis’ GreenLight Music Simplifies Pro Sync Licensing, 4 Top Publishers Sign On
Corbis' new GreenLight Music licensing service is designed to ease the licensing process for those who are seeking music by major label artists for a variety of uses. GreenLight basically circumvents the need to identify and negotiate various licensing options and allows one to simply identify how one wants to use the music and how much one is willing to pay.
Though being pitched as a sync licensing service for "professionals", GreenLight Music covers a broader range of licensing for clients who can afford the fees demanded for music by artists on major labels. It is not, as some may have initially hoped, a service for licensing use of music for cover songs and related videos.
Corbis was founded by Bill Gates in 1989 and now handles a variety of digital content for industry uses from stock photography to video footage to fonts. Corbis' subdivision, GreenLight, handles celebrity-related content licensing. The launch of GreenLight Music extends Greenlight's services to recorded music featuring the catalogs of EMI, Universal, Warner and Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
Not only is the service of interest to creative professionals in marketing and advertising but, as noted on GreenLight Music's homepage, it's also of interest to those who need music for such uses as:
- Company presentations
- Corporate videos
- Sales meetings and trade shows
- Websites
- Stage productions
- Life event videos
GreenLight Music is definitely taking an easy and relatively transparent approach compared to most services for corporate clients. For example, you can go on the site and find out quite a bit without even registering much less having to talk to a sales person. If you've attempted to research corporate-focused services, you'll recognize that this approach is a radical divergence from the norm.
Like any good web service, one has multiple search options as well as options for browsing music. Once you've identified music that fits your needs, you describe your use which might include an event, a film trailer or advertising. You also provide additional information from how much of the song you need to how long you'll need to use it. However, licensing for live performances of songs is not available.
You then make an offer, often with the aid of a suggested price called the "GreenLight savvy offer," though you're free to make a lower bid. The bid then goes through a negotiation phase with the appropriate music company and then to artists for approval. Once relevant rights holders are consulted and sign off, you can buy the license for use. Obtaining a copy of the music is on the licensee.
For more popular songs or uses that will reach a broad audience, you will be referred to a "GreenLight licensing expert". So if your community theater wants to play Ke$ha's Tik Tok in a production for a small audience, you can make a bid as described above. If you want to use it in a television ad they'll bring in the expert to handle the process.
Some tracks are preapproved so, if you're comfortable with the price, you can cut to the chase and speed things up.
GreenLight Music will clearly be of interest to people who have hesitated to pursue such licensing due to the possible complexities or who simply need to streamline the process. However, this news may well be a shock for such companies as Peter Gabriel's Cuesongs, designed to provide major label music to indie filmmakers, and to any other such service that exists to negotiate licensing for the use of such music.
For those of us a bit removed from the process, GreenLight Music is a fascinating look at pricing and the complexities of licensing major label music.
Hypebot Features Writer Clyde Smith maintains his freelance writing hub at Flux Research and music industry resources at Music Biz Blogs. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
