Hey Mastermind,
I have experience with music licensing companies. I currently am working with Rumblefish, PumpAudio and Jingle Punks. I've recently started working with some other companies, but it's too soon for me to give any real input on them.
All three of the above mentioned companies will re-title your works if your register with them and are accepted. That's just the way things seem to work in the music licensing business. When they re-title your song they usually just add their initials to the end of the song title. Pump Audio actually send you the publishing royalties that they recieve on behalf of your work. I think Rumblefish keeps them. Jingle punks hasn't done anything for me as far as sales go so I don't know how they handle publisher royalties.
Rumblefish has a great deal with Youtube. You know how Youtube will strip copywritten audio from a video? Well Rumblefish has a deal that let's people license our tracks for use in videos that would normally have the audio taken out for copywrite reasons. The license deals are for small amounts like 2 or 5 dollars, but they add up. My most recent check came on Moday for 800.00 just from Youtube licenses.
Pump Audio does a lot of licenses as well. They deal with big brand names and popular TV shows.
I would highly recommend you join a Performance Rights Organization like BMI or ASCAP. This is where you will get your back end money. I am still getting reccurring royalties from about 20 songs I made years ago. I have gotten a royalty check every quarter for the past 4 or 5 years. When you combine that with the quarterly checks from Rumblefish and the twice a year checks from PumpAudio you can see how money starts to accumulate. I get payments 10 times a year for music that I am getting licensed.
I can't keep track of all of the licenses I've done over the years but some of the networks and tv shows I've licensed with include: Mtv, VH1, BET, Discovery, Fuel TV, Showtime, Bravo, A&E, History Channel, Biography Channel, HGTV, Dew Sports Tour,and more. I've even had a song placed on a video game for the X-Box 360.
Now here's the wack part.
You only get 35% of the license deal. Even companies that say they give you 50% still find a way to add another 15% for administration fees. For some of you that want to be the next superproducer this may sound like a rip off. For me this was ok since, they are constantly licensing the same beats over and over and I don't do anything once I've uploaded the beat. This is money that I otherwise would not get. and I still own the rights to the song, including the publishing. I can take the same song and sell it to anyone I want and not need to give a cut to the licensing company. I do this as a hobby and I'm beyond that stage of holding on to every beat because I think it may be the next club banger. If you want to get into this licensing game then you need to realize what you are agreeing to. If you are a control freak and want to approve every license then this isn't the game for you. I don't see my licensing activity until I get a royalty statement.
Another thing to consider when licensing is the fact that you can't use samples from other songs. You have to own the recordings that you are licensing. If you have other artists on your songs then they too must sign the proper paperwork in order for it to be used. this is why I license my music. I don't collaborate with anyone else , so when it's time to sign the forms, all I have to worry about is me. When the money comes in I only have to pay myself. Once you get other people working on your projects you become responsible for splitting up the money, and that's where it can get messy.
Another question I get asked often is do I send in full songs or instrumentals. I send in instrumentals structured as full songs. Don't just send in a repetitive loop. Give your songs names also. "Track 1" is not a proper name.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
