As a filmmaker and creative, chances are you’re aware of music licensing as a concept…but do you understand music licensing? For filmmakers, really understanding and navigating the world of music licensing is essential to ensure that their projects are legally sound, creatively enriched and ethically produced.
Licensing gives you creative control, allowing you to use specific music that enhances your project’s emotional and narrative impact. Knowing the costs involved in music licensing can help with budgeting and avoiding unexpected expenses, while proper licensing ensures that the project can be distributed across various platforms without legal hurdles.
Most importantly, using music without proper licensing can lead to legal consequences, including fines and lawsuits. It’s also essential to respect the rights of musicians and composers by compensating them for their work and supporting the creative industry as a whole.
Here’s the short version: there are six types of music licenses, but if you’re syncing music to picture (a film, a branded video, a YouTube upload, a wedding film) you’ll almost always only deal with two of them: a sync license and a master license, usually bundled together by whoever you’re licensing the track from. The other four (mechanical, public performance, print rights, theatrical) matter in specific, narrower situations that most video work never touches. Below is the full breakdown of all six, followed by a practical guide to which ones actually apply to you.
The different types of music licenses
Below, let’s take a look at the various types of music licenses in detail.
Synchronization license
A Synchronization License (commonly referred to as a Sync License) grants the licensee the right to synchronize music with visual media. This type of license is essential when music is used in conjunction with visual elements such as films, television shows, commercials, video games and online videos. This synchronization can involve background scores, theme songs, opening and closing credits, montages and more.
This type of license covers the composition (lyrics and music) rather than the specific recording of the song, which would require a separate Master Use License if the original recording is used (more on that later).
Sync licenses can be quite specific regarding the duration for which the music will be used and the geographic territory in which the content will be distributed. This can be for a limited period or perpetually, and it can cover local, national or international use.
A sync license is typically obtained from the music publisher, who holds the rights to the song’s composition. The terms of the sync license, including fees, are usually negotiated based on the popularity of the song, the type of media project, its reach and the importance of the music within the project. These fees can vary widely, from a few hundred dollars for independent or low-budget projects to millions for high-profile films and commercials.
Examples of a sync license
Chances are you encounter sync licensing every day. Throughout the hit television series The Bear, there are songs being used in every single episode…that’s a lot of sync licensing. Take the opening intro of season one, episode seven, for example:
In this scenario, the production company will have obtained a sync license for the song, allowing it to be used in this episode, broadcasted on TV, and made available on streaming services. Alongside TV, sync licensing can also be found across the spectrum of films, commercials, video games and online videos.
Master license
A Master Use License grants permission to use a specific recording of a song, known as the master recording. This type of license is kind of like the other half of a sync license, covering the underlying composition (lyrics and melody) rather than the recording itself.
The primary purpose of a Master License is to allow the licensee to use a specific sound recording of a song. This can include using the recording in films, TV shows, commercials, video games, and other multimedia projects. The master license is typically obtained from the record label or the entity that owns the recording rights. This could also be the artist themselves if they own the rights to their recordings.
A master license should specify the duration for which the recording can be used and the geographic territory where it can be distributed. This can range from a single country to worldwide use and from a limited time to perpetuity. Some master licenses may be exclusive, meaning that only the licensee has the right to use the recording within a specified context or period. Non-exclusive licenses, on the other hand, allow multiple licensees to use the same recording.
The terms of a master license, including the fees, are usually negotiated based on the recording’s popularity, the type of project, the reach of the project, and how prominently the recording will be used. Fees can vary widely and are often higher than those for sync licenses because they involve the actual performance by the artist.
Examples of a master license
An example of a master license in use can be seen throughout the Netflix documentary Trainwreck: Woodstock ‘99. In this documentary, there are a number of specific live performances of a song being performed by famous artists, so master licenses would’ve been needed for these.
If any documentary, TV series or film features a popular recording of a song, they’ll need a master license. The same goes for advertising – if a well-known song performed by a famous band features in a commercial, that needs a master license.
Mechanical license
A Mechanical License grants permission to reproduce and distribute a musical composition in physical and digital formats. This type of license is primarily concerned with the reproduction of a song’s composition (lyrics and melody) and applies to various formats, including physical media (CDs, vinyl records) and digital formats (downloads, streams). Mechanical licenses will also specify the duration and territory for which the license is valid, which could cover specific regions and a set time period.
The mechanical license is usually obtained from the music publisher or a rights organization that represents the songwriters and composers. These types of licenses involve the payment of royalties to the rights holders. These royalties tend to be calculated based on the number of copies sold or the number of streams.
In some jurisdictions, like the United States, there is a provision for a compulsory mechanical license, which means that once a song has been released to the public, anyone else can cover it by paying a set statutory rate. This ensures that songwriters and publishers receive fair compensation while allowing artists to create cover versions of songs. Meanwhile, the mechanical royalty rates are regulated by the Copyright Royalty Board.
Examples of a mechanical license
In 2006, UK rock band Arctic Monkeys covered Barbara Lewis’ 1965 classic “Baby I’m Yours”. To get this on the B-side of their album Leave Before the Lights Come On, the band will have needed to obtain a mechanical license from the music publisher, allowing them to legally reproduce and distribute the song on CDs and vinyl records. They then pay mechanical royalties based on the number of albums sold.
Mechanical licenses also cover digital downloads, where an independent artist releases a cover of a popular song on a digital platform like iTunes, or Spotify. Mechanical licenses will also be obtained if a music streaming service such as iTunes or Spotify wants to add a new album containing cover songs to its catalog. Meanwhile, if a company produces karaoke versions of popular songs for use in karaoke bars and home systems, that will also require a mechanical license.
Public Performance License
A Public Performance License grants permission to publicly perform a musical composition or recording. This license is essential for venues, broadcasters and other entities that play music in public settings, ensuring that songwriters, composers, and performers are compensated for the public use of their work.
A public performance license covers live performances, recorded music, and broadcasts. The license is typically obtained from performance rights organizations (PROs) such as ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC in the United States. These organizations represent songwriters, composers and music publishers, managing the licensing process on their behalf. A public performance license will specify the duration and geographic territory for which they’re valid. They can be short-term (for a single event) or long-term (annual licenses for ongoing use).
The fees for this type of license will vary based on factors such as the type of venue, the size of the audience and the frequency of music use. These fees are collected by PROs and then distributed as royalties to the rights holders.
Examples of a public performance license
The most obvious example of a public performance license in use would be radio stations. In order to legally broadcast the music, a radio station such as those run by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), will secure public performance licenses from PROs. The station pays licensing fees based on its audience size and frequency of music play and the fees are distributed as royalties to the rights holders.
If a music festival wants to feature multiple bands performing live, they’ll need to obtain public performance licenses from PROs to legally allow the live performances to go ahead. The licenses cover the entire event and ensure that songwriters and composers are compensated for the public performance of their work. Meanwhile, if any bar, restaurant, gym, fitness center, supermarket wants to play music – wherever it is in a public setting – then they’ll need to secure a public performance license from a PRO to legally use that music.
Print Rights License
A Print Rights License grants permission to reproduce and distribute the sheet music or printed lyrics of a musical composition: sheet music collections, songbooks, instructional books and lyric compilations. It’s typically obtained from the music publisher, and fees depend on the number of copies, the publication type and the distribution method.
This one rarely comes up for filmmakers and video creators. It matters if you’re publishing sheet music or a lyric book, not if you’re putting a track behind a video.
Theatrical License
A Theatrical License grants permission to perform a play, musical, or other dramatic work in a live theater setting (full productions, readings and adaptations). It’s obtained from the playwright or their licensing agency (for musicals, from both the book writer and the composer/lyricist), and fees are usually a percentage of box office receipts or a flat fee per performance.
Like print rights, this one is a different world from film and video licensing. It’s the license a school, community theater or professional production needs to stage The Lion King Musical, not something a filmmaker licensing a track for a video will deal with.
Which license do you actually need?
If you made it through all six of those and are wondering which ones actually apply to your project, here’s the practical answer.
If you’re a filmmaker, editor, YouTube creator, or wedding filmmaker syncing music to video, you need two things: a sync license (permission to pair the composition with your picture) and a master license (permission to use that specific recording). In practice, these two are almost always sold together as one bundle. When you license a track through a platform like Musicbed, you’re not requesting a sync license and a master license separately. You’re getting both, cleared, in one transaction.
Mechanical licenses only come into play if you’re covering, remixing or otherwise reproducing someone else’s composition yourself. Most video projects won’t need it.
Public performance licenses matter to whoever is broadcasting or publicly screening your finished film (a TV network, a streaming platform, a venue). It’s worth knowing, but it’s not necessarily something you’ll typically need to arrange yourself.
Print rights and theatrical licenses almost never apply to video work at all. They belong to a different part of the music industry.
What happens if you skip licensing
Using unlicensed music isn’t a small risk. On platforms like YouTube, it usually means an automated Content ID claim, which can mute your audio, redirect ad revenue to the rights holder, or take the video down entirely. For commercial and broadcast work, the exposure is bigger: cease-and-desist letters, statutory damages, and in some cases the project getting pulled from distribution altogether.
Here’s the part that surprises a lot of filmmakers, though: you can get a copyright claim even with a valid license. Automated systems don’t always recognize the license behind an upload, so a properly cleared track can still trigger a false claim. That’s exactly what SyncID™, Musicbed’s own claim-clearing tool, is built to solve. Instead of losing monetization while you wait for a manual review, you clear the claim yourself, directly, because the proof of license is already tied to your account.
What about AI-generated music?
With AI music tools now a growing part of a lot of editing workflows, “do I need a license for AI-generated music?” has become a real question and the honest answer is that it’s still genuinely unsettled. Ownership and commercial-use rights for AI-generated tracks vary by platform. Several tools explicitly don’t guarantee copyright will vest in what you generate, and terms can apply retroactively in ways that catch creators off guard. For example, a track made during a free trial may not carry commercial rights even after you upgrade.
That uncertainty is precisely the kind of risk rights-managed licensing exists to remove. Every track on Musicbed comes from a real artist or composer, pre-cleared for both the composition and the recording, so there’s no ambiguity about who owns it or whether your use is covered.
Musicbed’s Licensing Options
With the above in mind, you can now get to grips with what we offer here at Musicbed. Musicbed grants a sync and master license, which allows music to be used in timed relation to moving pictures (defined as a slideshow, video or a film). All of the music that we license is pre-cleared in terms of Master and Publishing.
That “pre-cleared” part is the whole point. Every track in Musicbed’s catalog — now over 70,000 curated songs and 150,000 premium sound effects from 1,500+ artists and composers — has already had the sync and master rights sorted out before it’s ever listed. You’re not trying to figure out who owns what and chasing down two separate licenses; that work is done. If a video does get an incorrect copyright claim despite a valid license, SyncID™ clears it directly instead of leaving you to wait it out.
Stephen Cozzarelli, Head of Production, Bryght Young Things put it very convincingly: “Musicbed has an extensive library that feels curated — not just a pile of tracks. I appreciate that we can give them our budget, usage requirements, and general direction, and they’ll help narrow things down. There’s nothing worse than finding the perfect song only to discover it’s way outside your budget. Musicbed simplifies that process.”
Musicbed provides three main types of subscription: individual, business and enterprise.
Individual subscription
The individual subscription is ideal for content creators. It covers any video being uploaded to the internet (YouTube, being the obvious candidate here), social media accounts up to 1m followers and podcasts. You’ll also have the freedom to monetize all of your content. While individual subscriptions don’t come with coverage for client work, it can be added if freelancers or content creators do work for clients.
Business subscription
The business subscription is great for businesses, brands, and nonprofit organizations. In this subscription you get everything that the individual tier includes, as well as being covered for client and brand work, which includes clients who have up to 250 employees.
Enterprise subscription
The enterprise subscription is best suited for large-scale brands and corporations. The comprehensive coverage provided in this subscription includes social media accounts with more than 1m followers, allows for clients of any size, celebrities with 1m or more followers and a range of distribution channels including broadcast, cinema and film festivals, VOD and video games. Unlike individual and business subscriptions, with an enterprise subscription we have what we call “extended uses”, which means we’ll work with you to customize the subscription based on your specific needs.
Single song licensing
We recognise that not everyone wants or needs a subscription. In some cases, you need one or two songs for a very specific project. That’s why we also offer single song licensing. A single use license means the song can only be used once – one song synced to one edit of one video, one time. This can be a much more cost effective way to do things for a one-off project. For example, if you’re on an individual subscription that doesn’t cover a larger client, it can prove much cheaper to opt for single song licensing, rather than upgrading your whole subscription.
Additional services
Alongside our subscription tiers and single song licensing, Musicbed can also take care of your custom music needs. With a roster of over 1,000 artists, we can work with you and a musician every step of the way, helping to create a custom music track for your project – one that fits exactly how you envisioned it. Additionally, if you’d like to obtain music licensing for a popular song, our experts are on hand to help with that too. No song is out of reach!
Wrapping up
Hopefully, at this point of reading you now have a much better understanding of the various types of music licenses out there. It can be a daunting subject but once you start learning the ropes, it’s clear that each type of license has a very different, specific usage.
Understanding the world of music licensing is essential for any filmmaker and creative. It protects you from any legal issues, empowers you as the creative and most importantly, and assists the creative industry as a whole, ensuring musicians and artists are correctly compensated and acknowledged for their work.
“I look at my career like a three-legged stool. One of those legs is streaming services, the second is licensing, and the third leg of the stool is live performance. I need all three running at once just in case one side starts to get a little wobbly.” — Chad Lawson, Pianist and Composer
That’s the artist’s side of the licensing conversation most filmmakers never see: proper licensing is a real income stream for the people who wrote and recorded the music. When you join Musicbed, you’re gaining access to over 70,000 curated songs and 150,000 premium sound effects from more than 1,500 artists, all pre-cleared, ready to license, with a team on hand to help you figure out exactly which combination of sync and master rights your project actually needs.
Frequently asked questions
You need a sync license (for the composition) and a master license (for the specific recording), usually bundled together by whoever you license the track from. A subscription through a platform like Musicbed covers both in one step.
A sync license covers the underlying composition — the melody and lyrics. A master license covers a specific recording of that composition. If you’re using a particular version of a song, you need both; that’s why the two are typically sold as a bundle.
It depends entirely on the platform’s terms, and those terms vary and can change. Some AI tools don’t guarantee copyright will vest in what you generate, and commercial rights aren’t always retroactive to earlier work. Rights-managed music from real artists avoids this ambiguity entirely.
On platforms like YouTube, expect an automated Content ID claim, which can mute your audio or redirect ad revenue. For commercial or broadcast work, the risk extends to cease-and-desist letters, damages, and potential distribution issues
Usually not directly. That license is usually the responsibility of whoever broadcasts or publicly screens your finished project, such as a network, streaming platform, or venue, rather than the filmmaker licensing the music.
