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Affix Music: in the licensing world there is none greater!

Date posted
September 2, 2009 at 5:31 am
Categories Filed Under
Interviews, Muzik
Comments
4 responses

Calling all hip hop practitioners, it’s that time again. As many gamers already know one thing that can make any video game stand out next to awesome graphics is an incredible soundtrack beneath it. Recently record giant EMI has called on game makers to feature more new artists in titles such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero to attract the younger user.

EMI synchronization boss Hywel Evans told MCV:?“ It would be great to see more new music used in games. To date, a lot of the success of titles such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band have relied on classic tracks, which obviously is great as EMI has a fantastic catalogue. But as more and more new and younger consumers buy games, providing them with the opportunity to interact with new music will engage a whole new audience.” An NPD report revealed in July that music game sales in America had fallen by almost 50 per cent for the first half of the year – yet Evans is still optimistic for growth in the sector, particularly thanks to new iPhone applications and The Beatles: Rock Band.

So what if you are a new artist who wants to figure out how to land a licensing deal within the gaming, television, or the motion picture industry? What should you do, where should you turn? Well the first place you should look to is the company Affix Music. Music has always flourished on a common interest and open collaborations. Affix is the premium music licensing company that understands the needs of both music creators along with commercial buyers and knows how to successfully execute the goods. One of Affix’s attributes is in its mission to make licensing easier and more profitable for everyone involved. Affix has a plethora of strategies catering towards new business channels in Television, Films, Advertising, Gaming, and Digital Media. The proprietary licensing platform can help clients generate new income streams and gain greater exposure for their work.

Affix works with the emerging and established talent behind some of the most successful urban acts. Knowing that The Koalition makes it a focal point of bringing hip hop and the gaming industry together, I hit up the owner of Affix Music Simon Horrocks in hopes of bridging the gap and inspiring the readers to expand onto the next horizon of your musical careers. Simon Horrocks is the giant of music licensing and to be the best you have to call upon the best.

S. Jeanine: Can you start off by simply telling the people who you are and a little bit about your professional background.

S.H: Absolutely I come from the artist side of the business as a writer, producer, and artist for a long time. I actually grew up in Detroit and Chicago playing jazz then I got involved with electronic music. I was in a band for about 10 years and practically lived on a tour bus while making a few albums for some major record labels. Once I tired of that lifestyle I moved into management and started working for a firm for the next 5 years. I worked with small groups getting them record deals and I started to see how the nature of the business began to change into something totally different. I then got involved with Ciara’s team and started working with her on her first record, which led me to working with Devyne Stephens who discovered the singer Akon ; this is where I came up with the idea of creating Affix Music.

S. Jeanine: How does music licensing work?

S.H: The music licensing works in a couple of different ways. Essentially music is protected under copyright law, and as the copyright owner you have the right to synchronize a master recording with the underlining composition with a moving image. For that there are actually two specific copyrights there’s the copyright for the master recording of it and you’ll get paid a fee for any specific usage. The usages can vary they can be for film, television, video games, a website or blog, or a number of different usages. Underneath that there is the territory and the term. There are a number of specific criteria that must be met in licensing for every specific license.

S. Jeanine: What role if any does a Publisher and PRO (performing rights society) play in music licensing?

S.H: They play a very big role. Traditionally if someone has a publishing deal than the administrating publisher generally negotiates the prices of the usage of the underlying composition. In the traditional licensing world under the old model if you’re an artist and writer signed to a major label deal and then a publishing deal, those two entities are the ones who negotiate the rights for licensing your deals. But in the independent world the responsibility falls more in the hands of the creator so what we do is we actually act as a licensing agent for those independent owners of content.

Performing Rights Organizations play a role in licensing when they collect performance royalties and there are only certain types of usages for synchronization that generate those streams of revenues. Both of those roles are highly significant.

S. Jeanine: Can you explain on what it means to have your music “pre-cleared”?

S.H: With pre-clearing generally in the past when you were selling your music or entering into an agreement with a record company at that point the clearance process would occur being the point of monetization. When we pre-clear music we work with our music providers to identify who the rights holders are then get their consent to act on their behalf to license their music. It’s a bit of a process to go through on the front end, but it’s well worth it because of the way that production schedules have changed they’re a lot faster and people need answers a lot quicker than previously. By pre-clearing the music it allows us to act instantaneously.

S. Jeanine: You work with a lot of independent acts does it make a difference whether the artist is signed to a record label or not?

S.H: Yes with what we’re doing at Affix, we are really only are dealing with independent content owners. So we’re not dealing with the majors we want to work with those who are signed to independent companies or are out on their own.

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S. Jeanine: Who are some of your former clients?

S.H: We’ve worked with a number of different entities that have really shaped our business. I helped Athletes Foot find some music for their commercial, which was the first deal that I did. From there I developed a relationship with Clear Channel and started to help them find content for a number of the major brands and consumer goods companies that they were working with. From there I ended up doing projects for HBO and BET then I landed a situation with Disney.

S. Jeanine: What criteria must a music creator possess before you’re willing to take them on as a client?

S.H: Well first of all they’ve got to have great quality music. It needs to be in the market place along side of the stuff that can be produced by a major label. The potential client also has to be able to account for the ownership of that music such as whether he or she owns it flat out 100% or being able to identify whom the other people are who own the music as well. Next he or she must be a member of a Performing Rights Organization ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC. Lastly the music cannot contain any samples at all because it affects the ability to control the entity.

S. Jeanine: When your take a persons music how do you know where to shop it, whether to go after the gaming industry, advertising, movies or television or do you just shop the material to all outlets and see who responds first?

S.H: Well in the past we’ve done some pre-selecting as clients request that we find certain music for them and their need. We kind of tried to solve their problem. Right now we are in the process of creating a platform that allows brands and companies to look for the music themselves. So the companies will be able to search through our system and find what they need for a project based on the criteria they are asking such as by genre or theme.

S. Jeanine: How long does it typically take to negotiate a licensing deal for a new client?

With the old model it could take weeks and months, but now the way we have set up our system it can be instantly. Our process is that any time someone comes and listens to music within our catalog it’s already pre-cleared and available for licensing. So literally once they’ve made their selection they go through a form of licensing matrix that can take as little time as up to 20 seconds to provide them with the cost to use the specified music. It would probably take you longer to put in your credit card information than it would to license the track.

S. Jeanine: Your motto is “urban music licensing made easy.” How or what does your company do to lighten the load for any artist who may be pursuing a licensing agreement verse attempting such on their own?

S.H: One thing we do is providing the pre-clearing process and we do non-exclusive deals. We take the considerable amount of time and effort making sure that we’re tracking everybody down and getting the job done. We have a lot of expertise in licensing music, but we also have in the process of understanding how the music was created. We’ve taken a wealth of knowledge and applied it towards providing an advanced service. We focus solely on licensing their music. We match them up with brands and other outlets.

S. Jeanine: Your system allows creators to keep their copyrights can you elaborate on how the non-exclusive deals work.

S.H: My partner Michael and I either have been artist or represented artist and as such we work very hard to protect artist rights. We champion artist and writers because we understand what it’s like to be standing on that side of the fence. Our company was specifically designed to be artist friendly while allowing us to still perform our jobs. As far as the terms are concerned our deals are one year long. They are completely NON- EXCLUSIVE. We assume no rights! The only thing that we do ask for is that we are allowed to act on behalf of the music as its licensing agent and make the deals happen.

S. Jeanine: Are there any upfront associated cost that potential clients may need to be aware of such as your fee for representation?

S.H: We operate on a NO FEE model. There are no fees for artist to get their music into our system. We have a standardized agreement that we do with each client. The only thing we encourage artist to do money wise is too make sure that they have an attorney look over the agreements with the new companies before they sign. We just want to be an advocate for good music, and we certainly don’t charge for that. We make our money on the brand side not the artist. We bring the artist money not the other way around.

S. Jeanine: What do you love most about what you do for a living?

S.H: I love working in the music business. I love building the company with my partner. I love the creativity of a great piece of product. I enjoy and get really excited each time we make a song placement. I feel really proud of being able to generate revenues for people.

Written By Sha'Linda Jeanine

Sha’Linda holds a M.S. and B.S. in Mass Communications. In addition to The Koalition she is also a journalist/author for HipHopDX, AllHipHop, Yo Raps, HHW, etc. Her focal point is Hip-Hop the genre and lifestyle. This examination is her concern, responsibility, and cultural investigation.