ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

5 years ago - James Price

Hey, a composer here. Ignoring for a second the fact that it is your friend who has offered, there is no set rate as such for this. However the first port of call is probably to decide what is your max budget will be for music.

Normally, when coming up with a fee, the composer will want to factor in things such as their own production costs, composition fee, and the terms of the licence such as the media, territory, the duration and whether there is a period of exclusivity. Music rights are a little bit complicated, and if neither parties are especially clued up on it, then it sort of becomes a case of the blind leading the blind.

However I would suggest talking it through with your friend and coming to a figure that you are both happy with - one that doesn't knacker your budget but also makes it worthwhile for the composer. I hope that's helped a little bit - like I said there is no right or wrong answer to this, and is a question that crops up often in the composer community, too!

Let me know if you want to come back on any of that :)

5 years ago - Delilah Gyves

Hi James,
Thank you for this. It’s really helped to break it down for me, we are going to go with his set studio hire fee for now and see how long it takes us, but all this information is really useful as I will want to draw up an agreement/contract so we can discuss this when we both sign it too. Thank you for your respond

5 years ago - James Price

No worries, Delilah! Good luck and I hope you manage to work out the terms of the licence

The main thing to bear in mind is that you do not need to own any copyright in the composition in order to use it, unless you are a music publisher and plan to exploit the composition in other projects. A synchronisation licence, either non-exclusive or with a limited period of exclusivity, is sufficient

5 years ago - Tim Benjamin

Hi - composer and director here - two hats!
Many composers will do this sort of work "free" or "for expenses", assuming that the rest of the crew are doing it on the same basis. However it's bad form to get the composer to work for free when, say, your DP isn't.

In general for smallish indie projects I'd advise paying the composer the same as you are paying the DP, assuming you are bringing one in and the DP isn't you.

I've done short films for people for free, sometimes it's a (very appreciated) token sum such as £100, sometimes it's a bit more substantial such as £1k or £2k, sometimes it's even more (especially if the film is longer). I will consider each proposal on its own merits - how good does the film look like it's going to be? Are the other people cool? Will I enjoy it? Will it complement my showreel? Will I make some good connections out of it? Can I have a full res copy and use it (even re-edit it) for my own purposes? These are all factors a composer should be considering.

You should in addition cover your composer's expenses and any fees for players that they might want to use. When using players, the situation is different and you have to tread very carefully indeed - you'll usualy get a bad reaction asking professional musicians to play for free, and there are union rates to consider.
However, most composers for short films (except at the very top end) will be doing everything inside the computer and/or playing themselves. The composer therefore probably won't have any expenses unless you've insisted they travel to you for an in-person meeting, or unless you want them to find a specific sound or instrument that has to be paid for (unlikely?).

On the subject of rights - your composer should give you a written document saying that you have permission to use the music for the purposes of the film. You can define that in great detail if you want and even ask them to waive moral rights (e.g. they can't pull the music if they think the finished film is crap, immoral, etc). But yes normally the copyright remains with them and you can't use the music for other purposes (such as another film). Rights to use the music in the trailer should be explicitly specified or excluded as necessary. You might want to set in writing a right of the composer to be present in the final sound edit and mix. You might have to resolve creative differences between your sound designer and composer, if they aren't the same person. But that's another topic...

Hope that helps!
Tim

5 years ago - Ezra Hinds

Composer/Camera op here. For larger budget productions composers sometimes charge a percentage of budget like 2-5% I believe. For smaller budget production a per minute of score figure is also a good way to go. For example, £150-250 per minute and a flowing composer should be able to produce 2-3 minutes per day. So in a 10 minute short with 6 minutes of score that works out to £1200 if you use the middle figure. Another thing is just to agree to a fixed fee. The one to usually avoid is day rate because there is no way on your end to accurately judge a productive day. Finally, there are a lot of variables. Is it a simple piano/violin track. Pop? An orchestra? These, of course, present different considerations in the per minute of score calculations.

5 years ago - Delilah Gyves

Hi Ezra and Tim,

Thanks you so much - this has all been so valuable, really appreciate it.

4 years, 11 months ago - William Camilleri

i will score your movie for 1000 Pounds and do a brilliant job for you, Hollywood Composer William Camilleri
pls see William-Camilleri.com all the best William