How much does a music licence cost, and why?

The honest answer is that a licence is priced on reach, not on minutes of audio. Two projects can use the same track, the same length and the same edit, and pay very different amounts — because one of them will be heard by a thousand people and the other by ten million.

The four things that move the price

Media. Online-only is the cheapest place to be. Add broadcast, cinema, out-of-home or in-store and the audience multiplies, so the licence does too.

Territory. One country costs less than worldwide. Most brand films quietly end up worldwide because a website has no borders — worth deciding on purpose rather than by accident.

Term. A six-week campaign flight and a brand film that lives on a homepage for five years are different products.

Media spend. Paid budget is the most reliable proxy for reach that exists. A film with no spend behind it is a smaller use than the same film with a national buy pushing it.

Why we price per project, not per month

Subscriptions look cheaper per track, and they are — as long as you keep paying. The trade is that the music you published is tied to an active account, and the composer behind it is paid from a pool rather than for your use. We chose one-time, per-project licences: you pay once, the project stays cleared, and the artist is paid for that specific use. The reasoning is in royalty-free, subscription, sync.

A realistic way to budget

Before you listen to anything, answer:

• Where will this run, honestly, in twelve months?
• Is there paid spend behind it, and roughly how much?
• Does the client need worldwide rights, or is one market enough?
• Will there be cutdowns, and will they run in the same places?

That gives you a tier, and a tier gives you a number. Our current tiers — Creator, Business, Film & Production, Campaign and Campaign Plus — are listed with what each one covers on the licensing page. Anything outside them goes to a custom quote, which is the normal route for broadcast campaigns with unusual scope.

Where budgets usually go wrong

Licensing for today's plan. The cheap licence becomes expensive when the film is repurposed for a TV cutdown three months later. Licence for where the project could plausibly go.

Forgetting versions. A 60-second film, a 15-second social cut and a 6-second bumper are one licence here, but they are three different edits. Make sure the track has the versions your editor will need — stems and alternates are what keep that from becoming a re-record.

Treating music as the last line item. Music is the only element of a film that is chosen after everything is locked and then blamed for not fitting. Decide the budget when you decide the edit length.

Hear it in practice

Two of our curated playlists that show this in the music itself:

• Corporate Inspiration — measured optimism and forward motion for brand and corporate work.
• Contemporary Male Pop — polished hooks for ads, promos and lifestyle pieces.