Music licensing is a tricky subject at the best of times. For start-ups, it can be a nightmare. March 9 2011 is the date for a workshop focused on providing up-to-date practical music and content licensing guidelines to tech startups and agencies. The workshop will examine different kinds of deals ranging from streaming music, online campaigns, apps, video and games involving both music and content in various combinations. It will also discuss the new developments within the regulatory landscape to be aware of and their implications.

Two in-depth case studies of how it has worked for Last.fm and PureSolo will be presented and discussed. Read the rest of this entry…

An article in the Harvard Crimson pointed to a project run by Berklee and the movie studio Paramount. The studio has undertaken a massive programme to tag a database of old soundtracks from the 20s onwards, with the goal of making them available for licensing. There are mountains of music out there that cannot practically be used, as they cannot be searched. By tagging old soundtracks, supervisors will be able to locate and cue music from a very rich library that includes scores from films such as Star Trek, Forrest Gump, Chinatown, Mission Impossible, Love Story, and Airplane from composers such as Elmer Berstein, Danny Elfman, Philip Glass, Jerry Goldsmith, Ennio Morricone and others.

The idea is certainly good from a logical point of view, and one I recently put to a popular TV series. Why let good music lie dormant when it could be earning money? But a question that bothers me is who will be earning? Was not lots of this music composed “for hire”?

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Berklee students open doors to Paramount’s archives – Boston Movie News | Examiner.com and The Crimson.

For MIDEM 2011 (January 22-26), CISAC, the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, has invited a number of industry experts to Cannes to share practical advice on music licensing during two panel discussions: MidemNet’s “Music Licensing Crash Test” (Jan 22) and the CISAC hosted MIDEM session “Digital Services & Authors’ Societies — Building Efficient Partnerships” (Jan 24). CISAC will also unveil its highly anticipated annual Global Economic Survey of royalty collections for authors’ rights during the week.
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News that will surely interest music supervisors is that Harmonix Music Systems, makers of the “Rock Band” music video game franchise has been bought back with the support of an investment firm. Viacom Inc. announced that it has sold the company  to Harmonix-SBE Holdings LLC, an affiliate of Columbus Nova, LLC. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

A comment on the company site states, “We’re excited to be returning to our roots as an independent and privately owned studio. As for what it means for fans, the DLC schedule marches on for Rock Band, we will continue our support of previously released titles, and we’re hard at work on some unannounced projects.”

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GameSoundCon have announced that award-winning composer and producer Tom Salta (www.tomsalta.com), will present the Keynote Address at GameSoundCon 2010 New York, to be held on Oct 2 and 3 at the Faculty House in New York, New York. Salta is one of the most in-demand music composer/producers working in multimedia including film, television, advertising and most notably video games, scoring blockbuster franchises including Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X, Red Steel and Prince Of Persia The Forgotten Sands.

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Sensoria (April 23-25) will offer a mix of screenings, performance, talks, events and exhibitions in the UK town of Sheffield that will be followed by Sensoria Teasers – events, activities and collaborations “as and when the opportunity arises”. Events include “Music for real airports”, a screening of “12 Angry Men” with live music, “Man of Aran” with live music by British Seapower and an interesting Pro section. These talks will include discussion about synch licences, monetisation in the digital world and a masterclass with Paul Leonard-Morgan. Details at Sensoria.