Insights · Music Budgeting

Why Song Count × License Fee Is Not Your Music Budget

Four costs and clearance problems filmmakers often discover too late

---

As a music supervision professional, I get called into projects at almost every stage—from development and pre-production through picture lock and post-production.

A music supervisor is not necessarily needed at every stage of every production. But there can be very real financial and scheduling advantages to bringing one in at the right time.

One of the clearest examples is music budgeting.

I think of music budgeting in three levels.

Level 1: License songs à la carte as the production goes along, without an overall music strategy or dedicated budget.

Level 2: Count the songs in the cut and multiply that number by the fee the production hopes to pay per song.

Ten songs at $10,000 each? Set aside $100,000.

It is a perfectly understandable way to create an estimate.

The problem is that music rarely behaves that neatly.

Level 3 is strategic music budgeting: understanding not only how many songs are in the project, but which songs matter most, what rights are required, how much time approvals may take, where original score can do the job better, what additional costs may arise, and what happens if the first choice cannot be licensed.

That distinction can save a production considerable money, time and frustration.

Here are four places where the simple song-count-times-license-fee calculation can break down.

1. Time Is Part of the Music Budget

One of the most overlooked music costs isn't a license fee.

It's time.

On Rustin, a party scene was scripted around Rufus Thomas's “Walking the Dog.” Because I was brought onto the project during pre-production, we had enough time to seek both the publishing and master recording approvals before the scene was shot.

This particular use required more preparation than simply securing permission.

The main character needed to move through a room of people dancing to the music and eventually have a conversation with the host. The actors needed to hear the song in order for the movement and dancing to remain in time, but production also needed clean dialogue.

Working with the sound team, we prepared a playback version that incorporated a low-frequency tempo reference—a “thumper”—that could keep the performers in rhythm when the actual recording was muted during dialogue.

The publishing and master approvals came through, and the playback material was prepared for the shoot.

Then, the night before filming, the director called and asked whether we could instead use Jackie Shane's recording of the song.

Creatively, it was a legitimate idea.

Practically, we had a problem.

The Jackie Shane recording had a different tempo and feel. This wasn't something that could simply be swapped during post-production; the performers' movements would be tied to what played on set.

Using the new version would mean securing a new master approval and preparing new playback material before the following day's shoot.

The relevant rights holder was already closed for the evening and would not reopen until after our scheduled filming time.

We couldn't make the change.

I wasn't happy that I couldn't get the director the version he wanted. But because the original scripted version had been addressed early enough, we still had a fully cleared song and functioning playback track ready when the cameras rolled.

That's the budgeting lesson.

Clearance time isn't an administrative detail added at the end of production. On certain scenes, it is part of production planning itself.

If music is integral to choreography, performance, dialogue, lip sync, source playback or anything else happening on camera, the cost of waiting too long can be much greater than the price of the license.

2. The Best Music Budget Isn't Necessarily the One With the Most Songs

A spotting session is one of the most useful tools for determining what a production actually needs.

I generally begin by sitting with the director, producer and, where appropriate, composer and editorial team to go scene by scene.

Where do we genuinely need licensed music?

Where does original score make more sense?

Which songs are essential to the storytelling?

Which are placeholders?

And where could a different musical solution actually improve the scene?

On Field Generals: History of the Black Quarterback, there was a montage dealing with the rise of Black music and culture during the 1970s.

The edit included a rapid succession of music-video material, and during the spotting session the director initially felt that the songs associated with each video needed to remain in the finished sequence.

That single montage would have added roughly ten licensed songs that had not been contemplated in the music budget.

Instead of automatically treating those ten songs as ten more licenses, we explored the sequence with the composer.

The eventual solution was an original backing track tailored specifically to the edit.

It solved the budget problem—but more importantly, it worked creatively.

That's an important distinction.

Strategic music budgeting is not simply about finding cheaper music.

Sometimes it means asking whether the expensive solution is actually the best storytelling solution in the first place.

3. The License Fee May Not Be the Entire Cost of the Recording

Another common surprise is that the negotiated master and publishing fees may not represent the production's entire financial exposure.

Depending on the recording, musicians, applicable agreements and nature of the use, union reuse or related payments may also apply.

These costs are not triggered by every recording, but they can become meaningful when a project contains a large number of eligible tracks.

That was another consideration on the Field Generals project. Many of the contemplated recordings were Motown recordings, meaning the production needed to consider potential reuse costs in addition to the underlying master and publishing license fees.

A production that budgets every available dollar toward quoted licenses can therefore discover later that the true music cost exceeds the spreadsheet.

For preliminary budgeting, I prefer to create a contingency rather than assume every song will cost exactly what appears in the initial license estimate.

If the contingency isn't needed, great.

If additional music-related costs appear, the production isn't suddenly searching elsewhere in the budget to cover them.

4. A Music Budget Needs a Rights Strategy

After the spotting session, one of the most important conversations is about music rights strategy.

What rights does the project actually require?

Theatrical?

Streaming?

Broadcast?

YouTube and other promotional uses?

Which territories?

For how long?

Will festival rights be needed before broader distribution rights?

These decisions can materially affect the cost and structure of music licenses.

Once the rights package is understood, the next question is how the available music budget should be deployed.

If a project contains twenty songs, should every song receive the same budget allocation?

Or are there two or three songs that are so important creatively that the production should reserve more money for them?

Should a larger number of songs be approached on an equal-fee basis?

Should certain sequences rely more heavily on score?

What happens if the most important song is denied?

What is Plan B?

And what is Plan C?

There isn't one correct answer.

The strategy depends on the project.

On a documentary involving a legendary musician, for example, we determined that approaching the core catalog with a consistent licensing structure rather than pricing the artist's biggest hits individually could potentially save the production hundreds of thousands of dollars.

That opportunity only becomes visible when the catalog, rights requirements, song priorities and overall budget are considered together.

If every song is approached independently as the edit progresses, much of that leverage disappears.

The Budget Is Really a Plan

Multiplying song count by an estimated license fee isn't useless.

In fact, it can be a perfectly reasonable starting point.

It just shouldn't be mistaken for the complete music budget.

A more useful budget also accounts for:

• which music is creatively essential;
• where original score can replace or outperform licensed music;
• the scope of rights required;
• clearance and approval timelines;
• potential additional costs;
• differences in the likely value and difficulty of individual songs;
• replacement options;
• and a contingency for the things no one discovers until the clearance process begins.

That's the difference between estimating the cost of some songs and developing a music strategy for a film. Producers looking for a structured starting point can explore producer music budgeting resources.

Song count × license fee gives you a number.

A music strategy tells you whether that number can actually get the film finished.

---

Planning music before picture lock? Explore Music Rights Strategy →