Reasons for This Book

The Reasons for This Book

One need go no further to seek the reasons for this book than to the many friends and colleagues of mine who have urged me over the years to memorialize my thoughts on its subject in writing. Since many of these same people are lawyers, I can only assume they are more interested in the expression of my practical experience as a licensor of music, than my knowledge of the law.

It should be no surprise, therefore, that, though this book is thoroughly intertwined with, and dependent upon, the law of copyright, the primary emphasis of this book is not on the law, but on experience and practice. A book on copyright law would have been easier to write, because, in writing such a book, one can rely on the large body of statutes and legal decisions with which to adorn the pages. In the pages which follow, citations are given for few legal decisions. Presented, instead, is how music publishers and other copyright owners think, or more accurately, should think, in connection with licensing the music in their repertoire.

In contrast to the acquisition side of music publishing, which involves acquiring the publishing rights to new music and established songs, music licensing, the subject of this book, concerns the revenue side of the music publishing business -- what you do after you own the song. Of course, what is revenue to the music copyright owner, is cost to the music user. Consequently, this book also addresses the other side of the coin -- what you need to do if you want to use the song for commercial purposes.

Music licensing can thus be viewed from two perspectives: (1) the considerations used by music publishers and songwriters in earning a living from their music copyrights, and (2) the clearance of music rights by those who desire to use copyrighted music for commercial purposes.

Because my business career in the music industry has been spent largely in the employ of music publishers, this book will more naturally reflect the perspectives of the copyright owner and songwriter. Yet, my sympathy for those whose job it is to obtain music clearances has concretely found its way into this book. The reader should find no contradiction in the expression of a music publisher's sympathies for the task of rights clearance. If the music publisher is doing its job correctly, the licensing of music rights by those who desire to use music commercially should be a simple, straightforward, and often rewarding effort. The music publisher's reward for facilitating the licensing effort is better representation of the songwriters whose livelihood may often depend on proper representation.

The reader is forewarned that some controversy may attend some of the opinions expressed in this book. Some will resent being shown that their language is confused, inconsistent, and often used unwittingly against their own best interest. At first, I hesitated to speak frankly, but, with a lifetime in this business behind me, I feel I have earned a license to finally declare, Anything Goes. Though some will inevitably disagree with the positions taken in this book, it is hoped that they will be viewed, if nothing more, as a call for a common understanding of the terms upon which we do business.

There's no business like show business. That issue was well settled by Ethel Merman. Yet, as Irving Berlin might have agreed, there would be no show business without music. For this reason, I could not begin without first thanking the many songwriters on behalf of whom I've had the great pleasure of working with over the years as a publisher representative and as an arranger and producer of successful radio and television productions.

AL KOHN
October, 1992

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