licensing-brief-writer

Licensing Brief Writer

What This Skill Does

Writes a brief summarising the licensing requirements for using a specific piece of music, archive footage, photograph, or other third-party content in a media project — including what licences are needed, who to approach, and what terms to request.

When To Use This Skill

• You want to use a specific piece of content in a project and need to understand what licences you need before approaching rights holders
• You need to brief a music supervisor or clearance agent so they can begin the licensing process
• A rights holder has asked you to set out your licensing request in writing before they can quote you
• You need to explain a licensing situation to a producer, director, or broadcaster who is not familiar with rights clearance

What You Need To Provide

Required: Description of the content (e.g., "a 1967 recording of a jazz standard by a named artist," "30 seconds of archive news footage from the 1990s," "a photograph taken in 1958 by an identified photographer"), your intended use (what the content will be used for and how prominently), and your distribution plan.

Optional: The rights holder or archive you believe owns or controls the content, any existing relationship with the rights holder, your budget range for the licence, whether you need in-perpetuity rights or a fixed term, the territories required.

How the Assistant Approaches This

1. Identifies the type(s) of licence needed based on the content and use — distinguishing between the layers of rights that may apply (e.g., sync licence and master licence for a music recording, or archive footage licence vs underlying rights in footage)
2. Identifies who holds or likely holds the relevant rights and how to locate and approach them, noting any complexity (split rights, contested ownership, archive vs original rights holder)
3. Drafts a licensing request summary — the key terms to request and a note on what terms are standard versus what requires negotiation — and flags any scenarios where specialist legal advice is needed before approaching rights holders
4. Closes with a "Next Step" note: which rights holder to contact first, whether a music supervisor or clearance agent should be engaged instead of direct contact, and whether rights-clearance-checklist should be run to check for any other items in the same project that still need clearing

Output Format

Brief document: Licensing Summary (100 words — what you want to do and what licences you need), Rights Holder Identification (100 words — who to approach and how), Key Licence Terms to Request (bullet list — territory, duration, platform, exclusivity, fee type), Risks and Considerations (50–100 words). Total 350–500 words. Plain language throughout — written for a producer to understand and act on without a law degree. Output ends with a "Next Step" note: which rights holder to contact first, whether to engage a clearance professional, and whether to run rights-clearance-checklist for the wider project.

Quality Criteria

• Correctly identifies all licence types needed for the content and use described (e.g., does not conflate sync and master licences for music)
• Rights holder identification is specific — names the type of organisation to approach (record label, publisher, archive, photo agency), not just "the rights holder"
• Key terms section covers: territory, duration, platform/distribution method, exclusivity (required or not), and fee basis (flat fee vs royalty)
• Risks section flags any content that may require specialist legal advice
• Language is accessible to a non-lawyer producer
• Output includes at least one concrete next action the user can take immediately (contact the identified rights holder, engage a music supervisor, or run rights-clearance-checklist)

Example

Input

Content: 45 seconds of a well-known pop song recorded in 1979 by an internationally famous artist. The recording is recognisable, and the song is used in the film's opening sequence — not in the background, prominently featured. Use: Feature documentary film. The song plays over archive footage from the era of the recording and is central to the emotional register of the opening. Distribution: International theatrical + streaming (global), possible broadcast licence separately. Rights holder: Unknown — I haven't researched who owns this. Budget: Limited — this is an independent documentary.

Output

Licensing Brief — FEATURED POP SONG (1979 recording)

Licensing Summary

You intend to use 45 seconds of a recognisable, internationally known pop recording from 1979 prominently in the opening sequence of a feature documentary for international theatrical distribution, global streaming, and possible broadcast. This is a featured sync use — the most expensive category of music licensing. Two separate licences are required: one for the composition (the song itself) and one for the master recording (the 1979 recording specifically).

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Rights Holder Identification

Composition (sync licence): The song's publisher holds the sync rights. For a major-catalogue song from 1979, this is almost certainly a major music publisher (Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing, Warner Chappell, or a significant independent). Search the song title at PRS for Music (UK), ASCAP/BMI (US), or your national performing rights organisation to identify the registered publisher.

Master recording (master licence): The record label that released the 1979 recording holds the master rights. For a well-known recording from this era, this will likely be a major label (Sony, Universal, Warner) or a catalogue label that acquired the original. If the original label no longer exists, research which company acquired their catalogue.

Approach both simultaneously — the two licences are issued by different organisations and negotiations can proceed in parallel.

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Key Licence Terms to Request

• Territory: Worldwide
• Duration: In perpetuity (if budget allows) — a fixed 10-year term is a common starting position but will require renegotiation for continued streaming use
• Use: Featured synchronisation in a documentary film for theatrical exhibition, streaming platforms (list specific platforms if known), and broadcast
• Exclusivity: Non-exclusive (standard for documentary — you do not need exclusive rights to the song)
• Fee basis: Flat fee — for an independent documentary, most publishers and labels prefer a one-time payment rather than royalties

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Risks and Considerations

Cost: A featured use of a well-known song in a globally distributed documentary is among the most expensive clearances in documentary production. Budget €10,000–€50,000+ per licence (sync + master) as a realistic starting range for major-catalogue music. If the budget cannot support this, consider whether an alternative piece of music could serve the same function.

Refusal: Some rights holders decline to licence music for documentary contexts where the content of the documentary may not align with their preferences. This is more common with music associated with living artists who retain approval rights.

Specialist advice: Given the cost, complexity, and centrality of this use to the film, engaging a music supervisor for this licence — rather than approaching rights holders directly — is strongly recommended.

Known Limitations

• This brief identifies what licences are needed and who to approach; it does not replace a music supervisor or entertainment lawyer for actual licence negotiation. Featured sync licences for well-known music should be handled by a professional.
• Fee ranges cited are illustrative starting points only. Actual licence fees are highly variable and depend on the specific rights holder's policies, the prominence of the use, and negotiation.
• Rights ownership for older recordings can be complex due to mergers, acquisitions, and catalogue sales. A music supervisor or specialist clearance agent will have access to databases that can identify current rights holders more reliably than a basic web search.

Related Skills

• rights-clearance-checklist
• release-form-writer