Music Supervision: Selecting and Licensing Music for Media

Course Number
SW-273
Description

This course explores the field of music supervision, which
 is an in-demand field due to the increased use of existing songs in TV shows, films, live events, advertisements, websites, and
 other media. This course reviews the entire music supervision process, from choosing the
 perfect song/lyric to strategies for securing licensing with
 artists and publishers, and offers students a hands-on opportunity to
 make music selections fit a variety of media, as well as structuring licensing/contract deals for composers, publishers, and
 record companies. The final project involves networking with
 songwriting majors, contemporary writing and production majors, students from Berklee Online, and external rights holders to license and place music into a series of scenes and advertisements. Students learn how to work effectively on a production
 team, locate resources for licensable music, offer creative
 options, select and license appropriate music, combine music with
 a variety of media, and generate detailed license requests,
 agreements, and cue sheets. The student gains a thorough
 understanding of the elements that make a piece of music a
 perfect fit for a production, in addition to addressing the
 needs of both the project (directors and producers) and the
 rights holders (writers, publishers, and master owners). The
 course will explore the viewpoints of publishers,
 songwriters/composers, master owners, and executive producers, in
 order to gain skills needed to effectively work within the
 creative and budgetary aspects of combining music and other
 media.

Credits
2
Prerequisites
MTEC-111
Required Of
SONG majors in the Songwriting/Sync Track not taking SW-241 and SW-461
Electable By
All B.M. and P.D. students
Major Elective for
Contemporary Writing and Production
Film and Media Scoring
Professional Music
Songwriting
Semesters Offered
Fall, Spring
Location
Boston
Department
SONG
Course Chair
Rodney Alejandro
Courses may not be offered at the listed locations or taught by the listed faculty for every semester. Consult my.berklee.edu to find course information for a specific semester.