How Does a Sync License Work, and Who Has to Sign It?

Music cleared late can hold up a release. Our main entertainment law for music, film and TV page explains how we work with artists and producers; this page explains the two permissions behind almost every use of music on screen. The U.S. Copyright Office describes synchronization as the use of music in "timed relation" to visual content, and says that to put music in a film, TV program or video game, "the creator of that work must obtain synchronization licenses from both the owner of the musical work and the owner of the sound recording" (Copyright and the Music Marketplace, 2015). For the wider clearance picture on a shoot, see our production legal services.

How Music Gets Cleared for a Production, Step by Step

1. Describe the use. Which part of the song, for how long, whether it plays in the background or on screen, and in which scene.
2. Identify the song's owners. Every songwriter's share and the publisher that controls it, using registration records and the publishers themselves.
3. Identify the recording's owner. Usually the label or the artist who released it. If you will re-record the song, you skip this step.
4. Request quotes. Send each owner the same description: the use, media, territory, term, and any trailers or promotion.
5. Negotiate and paper it. A sync license from each composition owner, and a master use license from the recording owner, in writing.
6. Confirm performance rights. Check how public performances of the music will be licensed when the work screens, airs or streams.
7. Keep the chain. Store every signed license with the cue sheet and the final cut, so distributors can see what was cleared.

What Exactly Does a Sync License License?

The Copyright Act does not use the word "sync." The Copyright Office says the synchronization right "is a species of the reproduction right and may also implicate the derivative work right" (Copyright and the Music Marketplace). Those are the owner's rights to reproduce the work and to prepare derivative works under 17 U.S.C. 106(1) and (2). Films, TV and games are "audiovisual works" under the Act: related images shown by machines, "together with accompanying sounds, if any" (17 U.S.C. 101).

A song and a recording are separate works with separate owners. The song, or musical work, is the melody and lyrics; the recording is a particular fixation of sounds. That is why music on screen usually needs two permissions, and why our page on registering the composition, the recording or both treats them separately.

Why Is There No Compulsory License for Sync?

Because the statute's compulsory license is for audio-only products. Section 115 makes the rights "to make and to distribute phonorecords" of a nondramatic musical work subject to compulsory licensing, and only when the primary purpose is distributing phonorecords to the public for private use (17 U.S.C. 115(a)). The Act defines "phonorecords" as objects fixing sounds "other than those accompanying a motion picture or other audiovisual work" (17 U.S.C. 101). The Copyright Office puts it plainly: "Section 115 is limited to audio-only uses of musical works," and sync rights "are not subject to government oversight." It also described the sync market for film, TV and games as working in "the free market for both musical works and sound recordings."

That is the key difference from a cover. An audio cover can rely on the compulsory license, as our page on whether you need permission to release a cover song explains, but the moment that cover is set to video, the song's owners have to agree.

Who Has to Sign?

Everyone who owns the rights you are using. On the song side, many songs have several songwriters, each with a publisher and a separate share; the Copyright Office notes it can be "challenging to determine royalty shares" among them. On the recording side, the report relays record-industry comments that ownership of sound recordings "is rarely divided among multiple co-owners," so one label or artist usually grants the master use license.

What about one co-owner licensing alone? The authors of a joint work are co-owners (17 U.S.C. 201(a)), and the House Report on the 1976 Act says co-owners are treated generally "as tenants in common, with each coowner having an independent right to use or license the use of a work, subject to a duty of accounting to the other coowners for any profits." But co-writer and publishing agreements can limit what each owner may grant, and an exclusive license is a transfer of ownership that must be in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed (17 U.S.C. 101, 204(a)). For those reasons, productions commonly get a signed license covering every share. Our page on whether a copyright license must be in writing covers the signature rules.

Re-recording changes who signs. The recording owner's rights do not extend to "another sound recording that consists entirely of an independent fixation of other sounds, even though such sounds imitate or simulate" the original (17 U.S.C. 114(b)). A new recording of the song avoids the master use license, but still needs the sync license for the song itself. Copying part of the original track is different: that is a sample, covered in our guide to clearing a music sample.

What Terms Does a Sync License Set?

Sync licenses are negotiated contracts, so the terms vary, but most address the same points:

• The use. The scene, the timing and duration, and whether the music is background, featured or performed on screen.
• Media. Festival, theatrical, broadcast, streaming, home video, online, or all media.
• Territory. One country, a region, or the world.
• Term. A fixed period or perpetuity.
• Promotion. Whether trailers, ads or clips may use the music.
• Fee and credit. A negotiated fee, often per side, and the screen credit.
• Equal-terms clauses. Some licenses include a "most favored nations" term, a promise that this owner's fee and terms will be no worse than those given to another owner for the same use.

Fees are set by negotiation, not by statute. The Copyright Office reported that in individually negotiated sync licenses, song and recording owners "are generally paid equally," meaning a 50/50 split between the two sides. Many costly errors come from clearing too narrowly; our post on the ten most common mistakes in licensing music for productions lists the common ones.

What About Performance Rights When the Work Airs?

Sync covers putting the music into the work. Showing that work in public, broadcasting it or streaming it also performs the song, which is the owner's separate right under 17 U.S.C. 106(4). The Copyright Office's report explains that film producers usually license theatrical performance rights at the same time as sync rights and pass them to theaters, while broadcasters and online services generally get performance licenses from performing rights organizations for the shows and movies they transmit. Our page on how performing rights organizations work explains those licenses.

How Does Clearance Differ for Film, TV, Ads, Games and Online Video?

The rights are the same; the scope you need changes. Films and series may need broad media and long terms when distribution is unknown at the start. An ad may need a shorter term but clear permission to tie the music to a product. A game may need rights for gameplay, trailers and online play. For creator and brand videos, the same two permissions apply even if the upload platform has its own music tools; platform agreements are private contracts that cover only what they say. When a platform flags music in a video, our page on platform copyright claims versus copyright strikes explains the difference. Documentaries sometimes rely on fair use for brief uses of music; our page on fair use of clips and photos in documentaries explains the factors and limits.

What Happens if You Use Music Without a License?

Anyone who violates an owner's exclusive rights is an infringer (17 U.S.C. 501), and both the song owners and the recording owner can claim. The remedies include actual damages and profits or statutory damages, depending on registration timing (17 U.S.C. 504, 412). Our page on what you can recover in a copyright infringement lawsuit covers the damages rules.

What Changes the Answer

• Re-recording. A new recording avoids the master use license, not the sync license (17 U.S.C. 114(b)).
• Audio-only release. A soundtrack album or audio cover may use the compulsory license for the song (17 U.S.C. 115(a)).
• Number of co-owners. Joint authors are co-owners (17 U.S.C. 201(a)), and the House Report says each owes the others an accounting, so every share matters.
• Fair use. Brief, transformative uses may qualify, but the analysis is case by case (17 U.S.C. 107).
• Public domain songs. An old song may be free while a recent recording of it is not.
• Work made for hire. Original score specially commissioned as part of an audiovisual work can be a work made for hire if the parties agree so in a signed writing (17 U.S.C. 101, 201(b)).

A Worked Example

Common Mistakes

• Clearing only the song or only the recording. Using an existing recording takes both licenses.
• Assuming the compulsory license applies. It covers phonorecords, not audiovisual works (17 U.S.C. 101, 115).
• Missing a co-owner. Find every share before the edit locks.
• Licensing festival rights only, then selling the film. Negotiate options for wider media up front.
• Relying on a platform's music library outside that platform. Those permissions reach only what the platform agreement says.
• Leaving it unwritten. Exclusive licenses must be signed in writing (17 U.S.C. 204(a)), and a written nonexclusive license is a clear record of what was granted.

What to Do This Week

1. List every music cue in the project with its timing and use.
2. For each cue, identify the song's writers and publishers and the recording's owner.
3. Decide the media, territory and term you need now and may need later.
4. Send identical quote requests to every owner.
5. Consider re-recording or original music for cues that are hard to clear.
6. Start a clearance file with the signed licenses and the cue sheet.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a Sync License the Same as a Mechanical License?

No. A mechanical license covers audio recordings of a song and can be compulsory under section 115; a sync license covers use with pictures and must be negotiated.

Do I Need a Sync License for a Song Performed Live on Camera?

Generally yes, for the song. Filming a live performance reproduces the composition in an audiovisual work, even though no existing recording is used, so the song's owners still have to agree.

Can One Publisher License the Whole Song?

Under the House Report's tenants-in-common view, a co-owner may grant a nonexclusive license subject to accounting, but contracts can limit that, and productions commonly want every share to sign.

How Long Does a Sync License Last?

As long as the contract says: a fixed term or perpetuity. The term is negotiated with the fee.

Do I Need a License for 10 Seconds of a Song?

There is no fixed number of free seconds in the statute. Short uses are analyzed like any other use, including under fair use where it may apply.

Who Pays for Performance Royalties When a Film Airs on TV?

Generally the broadcaster or service, through performance licenses, according to the Copyright Office's report.

Zala IP Law clears music for film, TV, advertising and online productions and negotiates sync and master use licenses for clients across the United States and internationally. If you have music in a cut that needs clearing, request a consultation or call 404-313-1701, and bring your cue list with timings and planned distribution.