Pay To Place: A Modest Proposal?

RRecently, one of the world’s top music supervisors floated the proposition that it may make sense for labels and publishers to pay for placement (e.g., “Pay to Place“) in order to benefit from its promotional value to their viewers.

In fact, the reaction went beyond disagreement, with people in many quarters behaving as if someone offered up the music industry version of Jonathan Swift‘s “A Modest Proposal“.

The rest of the industry didn’t agree.

There was much weeping, gnashing of teeth and spewing of vitriol across Facebook, the Twitterverse and Blogosphere that a major music supervisor would dare suggest to rights holders they pay for the placement and promotion of music.

Certainly, on its surface, “Pay to Place” is a pretty bold (and to some, chilling) idea.

But is the premise even valid?

For the vast majority of cases (but not all), I would say no.

Let me explain.

1. Original scores, works and compositions for placement.

In the case where original music is scored for a TV show, film, video game or ad, it’s extremely unlikely that any creator or rights holder would pay the company that commissioned the work to use it. That just flies in the face of business logic and is not going to happen with any creator worth their salt – now or in the future.

2. The vast majority of traditional placement of existing works.

And, in the case of a traditional placement of an already existing work, the vast majority of shows/films/video games or ads just don’t have the reach or audience heft to even suggest that paying them would lead to any demonstrable, subsequent lift in sales in other revenue channels for the rights holder.

3. Evergreen artists and Hitmakers

Then, there are the artists/catalogues with massive followings that don’t need sync as a promotional tool. Artists like AC/DC, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bee Gees, Led Zeppelin, Chic, Lady Gaga, Bob Marley, Journey, Justin Bieber, Lil Wayne, Beyonce, Nirvana … none of these creators/rights holders need sync to promote their music. The bottom line – no one’s getting that shit for free – if they get it at all.

4. Sync is one of many components in a creative project…

Sync is not radio.

There’s a central creative element in the development of a TV show, film, video game or ad, of which the music is one of many considerations dictated by the director, producer or client as much or more so than by the music supervisor.

And this is really significant – if you’re directing/producing a $500K ad, a $1MM per episode TV show or a $25MM film, as a director, you’re not going to give a shit about some piddly placement payday from a label or publisher if the music doesn’t work creatively within the project. You’ll gladly pay for what you need.

So who’s left?

Well, there are a few people, and this is where the proposition makes sense.

From a basic business and promotional point of view, a label or publisher paying for placement, when the opportunity is right, is no different than Aston Martin providing free cars and paying some cash to EON Productions and Sony to get into the next Bond film.

There’s no logical reason why a label or publisher shouldn’t pay for placement if and only if the placement is within a property that has a proven ability to provide lift in terms of exposure, audience and sales – and it works on a creative level.

If you look at it in this context, paying for placement makes total sense. With that said, the properties that can actually deliver the audience, context and exposure to warrant getting paid from a label or publisher for placement are an extremely rarified breed.

And, they’ll probably end up doing deals with labels and publishers where there’s some sort of payment for placement at some point.

As for the rest, it’s all tempest in a teapot – the vast majority of music supervisors will keep paying for placement, labels, publishers and creators will still realize revenue from placement, and the sync firmament will remain in its place.

Attend the Sync Summit NY for more discussion, networking and deal making in music licensing – syncsummit.com.