" Licensing "
This page will hopefully answer all the questions a singer or artist may have about recording one of Billy Darnell's songs.
Have you ever listened to a song and thought " I really would like to record that song! " but didn't have any idea how to go about acquireing the right to do so?
In order to record a song written and published by another writer, or publisher, you need to acquire a mechanical license from the writer, or the publisher. This license allows you to record and distribute a specified number of copies. If you find you need to increase that number you can always renew the license for additional copies. You may only sell as many copies as you are licensed to distribute under the agreement of the mechanical license, if one can prove you sold more than that, you may find yourself in court for a copyright infringment lawsuit which can be much more expensive than the mechanical licensing ever thought of being.
If you wanted to record a Billy Darnell song, you would have to contact Debbie at Billy Darnell Music, ( billydarnellmusic@charter.net , or call 615-415-5253 ) and obtain a mechanical license .
Mechanical licenses are quite easy to obtain, and actually very inexpensive. Most publisher houses today will allow you to obtain a license for as few as 100 copies. The going rate is 9.6 cents per copy, (Which can be negotiated down if you get into the area of tens of thousands of copies) along with a processing fee of $15 per license. Another words, for producing and distributing 100 copies your total cost of licensing would be $24.60.
This license allows you to copy the words and the melody, but not the original music tracks used in the original production of the song, or another artists version of the song. You must produce your own version of the music, or acquire permission, or a license, from the artist to use the tracks from his version seperately if you intend to copy their music tracks.
Using a Billy Darnell song for a video, or film, requires a master, or sync license. If you desire to do this, or you would like to know more about this process please contact us.
In certan cases, where a Part of the song is used in a video that is a non commercial project, we may issue a license free of charge for such projects. Each of these cases will be given consideration on a per case basis.
We Hope that answers any questions you might have had regarding this subject, if not feel free to contact us, and we will try to answer any other questions you might have.