Hack 58. Get Music for Free

Music is one of the most important aspects of a movie. If you know what you are doing, you can get great music for free. Sometimes you can even get someone else to pay the artists who provide it!

You'd be amazed at how much the music that you don't even consciously notice can make a huge difference in how you are affected by the visuals of a movie. We subconsciously rely on the cues music gives us to know how to react. Different music can make the same video clip seem alternately uplifting, sad, calm, or heart-poundingly scary. Most horror movies even over-rely on music…you know when someone's gonna get butchered when the music gets really spooky.

This is one reason The Blair Witch Project was so groundbreaking. Oh sure, everyone talked about the low budget and record-high box office return, but not many people talked about the fact that there is no music in this very scary horror movie! Okay, there was one song, but it's what they're listening to in the car on the way out the woods.

It is a testament to the power of marketing that the producers actually did manage to make and sell a soundtrack for this movie though. It's called Josh's Blair Witch Mix and it's supposed to be the tape that police found in Josh Leonard's car after his "death." Josh told me he never listened to any of the bands featured, and three of the songs on it were recorded two years after the tape was allegedly found.

But yeah, music makes or breaks a scene.

5.9.1. Using Music in a Movie

In mainstream moviemaking, Hollywood pays a lot of money for classic songs from the past. Or puts out the same ridiculous amounts of cash to license use of the latest hits by the latest (often disposable) stars du jour. Some of this even amounts to product placement in reverse, where the moviemakers pay the product to place it. Or more likely, the movie studio owns the record company too, or at least has the same corporate parent. All these machinations are just more reasons to make and support independent movies.

You probably can't afford the rights to use any of this popular music in your movie. And you can't afford to "just use it anyway." You'll never be able to broadcast or sell your movie if you have uncleared music in it.

Tarnation, Jonathan Caouette's autobiographical documentary that recently became a surprise hit at Cannes Film Festival, cost the director just $218 to make that is, before the director paid for the music and video clips playing in the background. Purchasing those rights bumped the film's budget to about $400,000.

But you can get great music for your independent efforts, without paying anything.

5.9.2. Finding Music for Free

What you want to do is find quality music by unknown artists. There are a lot of bands who would be honored to have their tunes in a cool movie. And it helps them too. Again, it's win/win. As it should be.

Great places to post for music are, of course, craigslist (http://www.craigslist.org) and MySpace.com (http://www.myspace.com). You can also go to MP3.com (http://www.mp3.com), or other MP3 sites, and listen to songs and contact the artists.

I usually post or email something that quickly describes the project, and names the terms, like this:

SUBJECT: Need music for movie, specifically some more background music to use under interviews. Any style except hard rock might work. MUST BE ALL ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONS. No uncleared samples or nicked melodies will be accepted.

Please go to http://www.kittyfeet.com to check out the project.

Email me a small MP3 or better yet, a link, and I'll let you know if it's something we can use. We won't use it without talking to you. This does not pay, but we will be submitting cue sheets to BMI and ASCAP, so residuals are possible from them if the movie is broadcast, and there's a really good chance it will be.

You retain copyright.

Much respect,

Michael W. Dean

Basically, what this all amounts to is being the music director for your movie. Hollywood movies hire dedicated music directors, who make six-figure incomes for basically having the right Rolodex. Again, you probably can't afford to hire them, but you can do their job yourself.

5.9.3. Being a Music Director

A large portion of being a good music director consists of being able to process huge amounts of data quickly and accurately. As soon as you hear an MP3 you like, you should ask the artist to send you a CD. I usually send them a cut-and-pasted document that basically says, "Do we have permission to consider using this, under the terms we described in our post?"

If the artist emails back affirmative, save the email and go ahead with the process of checking out more tunes by them. But don't say "We're gonna use your tune for sure" until you're sure you're going to use it. You don't want to get people's hopes up. And you have to make people understand that just because you don't use something, it's not a reflection on their music. The best music in the world might not be suitable for a certain scene. It's all very subjective, and you'll get a better ear for it the more you do it.

When producing my latest movie, I got about 70 CDs of music submitted. That's about 70 hours of music, from which I had to pick about 70 minutes of music. So I learned to listen like a music director.

When you get a CD, pop it into your computer and listen to about 20 seconds each of the beginning, middle and end of a tune. It's easier to tell which songs won't work than to tell which ones will work. You need to do a process of elimination, and generally cross off about six or seven cuts on a 10-cut disc.

After eliminating most of the cuts, listen to about a minute of the remaining ones. (I like to make the marks right on the CD cover with a Sharpie.) Then, from the two or three cuts you finally consider, rip uncompressed audio copies of them using Windows Media Player. You can then use those audio files while editing.

5.9.3.1. Keeping organized.

Give the files descriptive names like BobBartosik Quartet-slow jazz_Sax_Gasam.wav rather than names like song14.wav. Having the type of music in the title (slow jazz) makes it easier when you're editing to find something that might work. And having the song title (Sax Gasm) and the artist (Bob Bartosik Quartet) makes it a lot easier when you finalize your rough cut and have to gather written release forms and create the end credits.

Never put a dot in the first part of your filenames. They are an accepted character, but they can cause stuff to behave oddly in the editing program. Put them between the filename and the extension only.

So, you go through a couple CDs and end up the night with a few possible songs out of the many. Then start the next day with your video editor by playing him the tunes you've culled the previous night. If you trust his ear, he can make the next round of decisions. If you are your own editor, you get to make the decision!

You should winnow about five or six tunes down to one or two. Then that one or two should get transferred to your editing system and go in the music bin. Then whenever you need music, you can just check out stuff in that bin and drag potential tunes into the timeline. Not all of the songs will necessarily get used.

If you're editing in a quick process, and you like someone's tune, you might not even want to wait until you get his CD in the mail. Occasionally, I'll use an artist's MP3 in the timeline to check stuff out, and end up keeping it in there for a rough cut. But you really do want to get the uncompressed (.wav or .aiff from taken from a CD) version of their contribution if you end up using it. Replace it later if you use an MP3 as a dummy for mocking stuff up, because .wav files sound better than even the best MP3.

5.9.3.2. Obtaining a release.

For the songs that you do use, you should email a release form to the artist, and ask them to sign it and send it back.

Here's a summary of the release form I wrote and used for my movie:

Music Release Form

I, __________________ (herein also called "The Artist") hereby agree to have my song __________________ used in the movie currently called Movie Title Goes Here, directed by Michael W. Dean (herein also called "The Filmmaker".)

…

No payment is expected or implied.

…

The artist will still own the copyright on the song. The artist will always still be permitted to perform the song live at any time, and to record it.

…

Michael W. Dean, the Filmmaker, wants me to know, in writing, that he loves me and will use my music for good, and never for evil.

Date:_______________

Signature:_____________________________

Printed Name:__________________________

BMI or ASCAP affiliation:__________________________

If you'd like a copy of the complete release form, it is downloadable at the bottom of this web page: http://www.kittyfeet.com/30bucks/.

The line at the end of the release about ASCAP and BMI is the cool part. If the artist registers with one of those organizations (a person can only belong to one or the other, not both) then you, as the moviemaker, can submit cue sheets for the movie to each organization, listing all the songs used, and the names and affiliations of each artist. Then, allegedly, if the movie is broadcast, the musician might get a small check at some point, from money paid out from the broadcasting network or cable channel. I say allegedly, because I do not understand all the workings of huge corporations that mainly cater to big media, but I have a friend who swears she did it on an indie movie and it worked.

5.9.3.3. Joining BMI or ASCAP.

You can join these associations at http://www.ascap.com and http://www.bmi.com, respectively. It's free to join and there are no dues. Cue sheet information and downloads are at http://www.ascap.com/about/payment/identifying.html and http://www.bmi.com/library/brochures/cuesheet.asp, as well.

When I was on a major label with my band, Bomb, I was a member of one of these groups and got a few checks. But that's long expired. I may re-up my membership (since I created a little of the music used in my movies), but I'm still stalling on it.

There is a contract you have to sign in order to join. I looked at the ASCAP one and it had a clause that seemed to say that by joining, I was agreeing to back any anti-piracy laws they lobby to pass. I didn't like that one bit, as it could incriminate some, um, friends of mine. I haven't read the BMI contract yet (they're very long), but I'd be willing to conjecture it's similar. There isn't much difference in these two organizations, as far as my casual query of several members can ascertain.

5.9.4. Being Fair to Those Who Help You

Please notice that the contract I wrote is very fair to the artist. It has to be: you're not paying them! But most artists are so hungry, they'd give away a lot more rights than those outlined just to be in a movie. But you shouldn't do it. I love art (and artists) too much…hopefully you feel the same.

I did make one concession that restricted the contract on the artist a little more for one tune only: the song "Friends" by Aaron Jones. That's the song that's rolling during the final credits of my most recent movie, and as such defines the movie a lot more than the stuff in the background under people talking.

I just didn't want it to end up as the theme song for another movie, so I restricted the artist to not use the song in another movie. I wanted it to stand out in our movie. It has a very climactic effect, redemptive even, after the very end of the movie. You'll see when you see the movie. I picked that song very carefully; basically picked it as the one, very specially out of 70 hours of music.

Again, don't forget to make sure you credit everyone who helps out, both on your web site (give them a link too) and in the movie. And make sure that you mail them a copy of the completed DVD (as soon as it's done, without them having to bug you for it). And write everyone a thank you note.

Give a good movie!

Michael W. Dean