Couple of questions about "stingers" for corporate shows

T

Tom Manchester

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Jan 11, 2011
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Delaware
www.electrosoundsystems.com
So I have a show coming up in a few weeks that is to be broadcast on a major television network. I'm the A1 for the live portion of it, which entails supplying stingers / bumper music for guest entrances, awards, etc.

I'll be sending a split of thus music to the broadcast truck that will be mixed in with the broadcast. What I was wondering is the licensing implications of this music being broadcast.

Usually when I've done stingers in the past, it's a commercial piece of music, top 40 hit, etc, but only for a live show, never broadcast.

Is there anything I should know about, also, does anyone have any sources for good 30-60 second stingers to use for an awards style show? I know at my previous job, the video guys had a massive CD collection of generic music for putting into videos, but I can't recall who made the discs.
 
Re: Couple of questions about "stingers" for corporate shows

I would ask the client to figure it out and supply the music. You're the audio guy, not the producer.

For the application, I highly recommend Ambrosia Soundboard.
 
Re: Couple of questions about "stingers" for corporate shows

Kevin Hayes said:
I would ask the client to figure it out and supply the music. You're the audio guy, not the producer.

For the application, I highly recommend Ambrosia Soundboard.
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Not the worst idea, but I really should start building up a collection since I do a fair number of these types of events. Plus I've been hired as both a creative element and A1 for this show, so they're paying for some "design" aspects of the production to come from me.

There is already a good amount of musical content built into the presentation videos, just need a couple of songs for people to walk up to the podium. Turns out iTunes has a good amount of royalty free music collections that aren't as cheesey as the free ones on the 'net.
 
Re: Couple of questions about "stingers" for corporate shows

I would think the clearances would be different for something being used for live network broadcast as opposed to a local only audience. You may want to have the network production people approve and obtain proper clearances for anything you plan to use. This is one of the instances where it's better to ask permission first rather than forgiveness later. Perhaps others with more experience than I can chime in.
 
Re: Couple of questions about "stingers" for corporate shows

Are you doing a mix/minus feed for the truck? In the past I was always asked to supply the house feed minus the program music… or "mix minus". These were never live broadcasts but recorded for later dvd purchase. This allowed them to get away with not having to pay the licensing.
 
Re: Couple of questions about "stingers" for corporate shows

Kip Conner said:
Are you doing a mix/minus feed for the truck? In the past I was always asked to supply the house feed minus the program music… or "mix minus". These were never live broadcasts but recorded for later dvd purchase. This allowed them to get away with not having to pay the licensing.
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I'm splitting all of the mics and video deck feeds via a standard transformer splitter snake and sending one set of tails to my "room" console, and one set to the console in the broadcast truck. I'll likely send a split down to them from my stinger playback machine, but not my dinner music iPod.

I'll talk it over with the broadcast team, just good to have a little knowledge of the rules so I can have an intelligent conversation. Thanks for the input!
 
Re: Couple of questions about "stingers" for corporate shows

Tom Manchester said:
I'll be sending a split of thus music to the broadcast truck that will be mixed in with the broadcast. What I was wondering is the licensing implications of this music being broadcast.
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In the UK at least, 'sync rights' are required whenever commercial music is played alongside a moving image. For generic DVD productions, rights can be purchased at a fixed cost from PRS (and it's relatively cheap). The exclusions are things such as music to be played as part of TV adverts - anything like that requires approval from the copyright holders.

In America, I believe mechanical rights are handled by HFA (The Harry Fox Agency). Again, you can purchase at a fixed rate per song, and it's not at all expensive. You'd need to verify that they include 'sync rights', and enable you to use the music on a DVD.

So the short answer is that you do definitely require a license for your intended use, and as someone else suggested, I'd imagine the broadcaster will be familiar with how to go about it in the USA. I also imagine it's something that routinely happens without the users have a license, but that the rights holders probably turn a blind eye to if it's on a small scale DVD.
 
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