Music Budgets for Film Music Supervisors by Dominique Preyer

Goodnight Kiss Music

Music Supervision Budget Examples:

Q. Hi Janet,
How would I find music supervisor and production budgets? I want to start learning about the realities of supervision, and no one seems to be able to help me. Can you? I have a small label, but we are not very well known.

I love your newsletter, and I wouldn't miss one issue for the world.

Thanks for your time, I know it's valuable.
Ashley J.

A. Hi Ashley,
The best quick mock-up I’ve seen to this, that’s relevant at this time (April ’06) is probably Dominique Preyer’s. I have permission to post it here. From Dominique:

I can answer your questions based on my experience as a music supervisor and music publisher.
Here are a few examples:

Movie A:
Production Budget: $5,300
Music Budget: $400
Only one song in this film and the artist is well known artist as is the song.
No score on this film.
Gratis license approved for a one year festival license (US only) for both Synch and Master.
Renewal after one year for distribution (this is where the filmmaker gets kicked in the pants by the synch and master fees).
Synch: Worldwide DVD/home video, 1 year: .09/copy with an advance of 10,000 units ($900)
Worldwide pay/cable TV, 1 year: $1,000
Internet Use for 1 year: $1,500
Master: Worldwide DVD/home video, 1 year: .10/copy with an advance of 5,000 units ($500)
Worldwide pay/cable TV, 1 year: $500
Internet Use for 1 year: $500

All these quotes above are based on a Most Favored Nations (MFN) bases so
the highest quote is given on both the synch and master. This means double
the synch fees above and that's how much is paid to use this song.
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Movie B:
Production Budget: $5,500
Music Budget: $2,000
We are trying to license eight songs from well known artists and songs to indie artists.
A composer will compose a public domain songs and there will be on screen
performances of some songs (no master fee).
We are still in the negotiation stages and the total licensing fees are at $3,500 with five quotes still pending.
These quotes are for a festival licenses (US and Canada) for one year for both synch and master.
The lowest quote is $200 and the highest quote is $1,000. The overall average is $583.
Distribution terms have not been discussed yet. The director wants to see
how the film does on the festival circuit. The director is is considering
DVD sales and will most likely have to deal with a one time buy out at
about .10 cents a unit with an advanced.
These quotes are also on an MFN basis so the fees will most likely go up if
the director really wants to use the song.

Since you are a label you'll be dealing with the master. You'll most likely
quote a higher fee than the publisher (on an MFN basis) as there's no
performance royalties earned. I'm currently looking at some of the music
libraries that I have contact with to hopefully find songs that we can
license for much less and will fit in the film just the same.

A third film that is still in post used "verified" public domain music and a
song from an indie band with a huge following. We got all songs for gratis
in perpetuity. The director shot a feature length film on $400 with a lot
of in kind, no music budget and no pay.

I'm also getting ready for a seven figure film with a five figure music
budget. Not much detail right now. I know that with this size budget the
synch and master fees will go up tremendously. I'm may only be able to
license a few well know songs and the rest will be indie music.

I hope this answers your questions. There's a million different situations
but these are just a few examples with different music budgets.
_____________________
Dominique Preyer
Music Supervisor/Music Publisher/Producer
Spin Cycle Films

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