BrandsForBands

Initially launched in 2009 and rebuilt from the ground up in 2013, BrandsForBands is one of the most advanced music licensing platforms in the world, serving both those who represent music for licensing (Providers) and those who want to license it (Clients). On the provider side, we empower established record labels, music promo companies, song pitchers, publishers, artist managers, and artists to quickly and easily submit, license and manage their music for inclusion in paid brand, film, game and other opportunities. On the Client side, we provide brands, ad agencies, video production houses, filmmakers and music supervisors with affordable and fully licensed music from real artists and labels. BrandsForBands is 100% owned and operated by Brandracket, LLC, a Los Angeles-based music creative and licensing agency with over 20 years of experience in music licensing and supervision.

If there's ever been a process in desperate need of disruption, it's music licensing. It's slow, complicated and tedious, and can reduce the most seasoned pro to tears. We built BForB with a simple goal: to modernize music licensing and drag it kicking and screaming into the 21st century. We've made good progress, but there's still a lot more to come. Stay tuned.

No. We offer all the convenience and features of a music library (robust search functionality, pre-licensed music, playlist sharing, etc.), but with heavily curated music from real artists, labels and other music reps. Their access to BForB is granted on an invite-only basis. This results in better music, which ultimately makes your work more compelling and successful.

We'll work with you to set up an opportunity around your specific music needs (including rights package, fee, licenses, etc.). Music reps will then license their songs electronically for your opportunity. You can browse and search the licensed songs, and when you find one you like, you can download it and use it immediately. We then notify the song's reps/rightsholders of the use, and pay them the license fee on your behalf. See more on opportunities below.

No. You're free to simply browse and search the thousands of songs in the system to find what you need. We'll then contact the song's rep to get the use approved, usually within hours.

No. Unlike music libraries, not every song in BrandsForBands is pre-licensed for you to use. Instead, we set up specific brand, film, game, etc. opportunities and invite our music partners to opt in to them. We set it up this way for a couple reasons. First, the ability to create an opportunity around a specific brand or project gives clients a high level of customization, including the abilities to define the rights package, use their own license forms, and create highly detailed and specific music briefs, all of which can be edited and amended over time. Second, many established music reps are averse to signing blanket licenses like those used by music libraries. BrandsForBands gives them the ability to choose which opportunities they license their music for. This freedom of choice helps us attract a large and diverse pool of music providers, including many prominent labels, publishers, and other reps who wouldn't go near a traditional music library. The result is much better music.

There's generally no cost to set up an opportunity (more on this below). Otherwise, we can bill on a per-song, project, or monthly retainer basis, depending on your needs. The per-track cost consists of our fee plus the license fee that we pay to the song's rightsholder(s) on your behalf. Our fee generally remains fixed, but the license fee depends on the rights you need. Please complete the registration form, including a detailed description of your needs, and we'll get right back to you with pricing info.

No, other than paying them for the use of their music when it occurs. We have no ownership stake in any of the music in the system, nor are we paid by music rightsholders or reps to have their music in the system, or to pitch it to our clients.

An opportunity in BrandsForBands is a client-specific initiative for which our music partners can license their music. It is, in short, an opportunity for them to license their music. Opportunities can be ongoing (for example, a brand needs music for web videos on a rolling basis), or one-offs (music for a film or game). Opportunities provide a high level of customization, giving clients control over every detail, including rights package, music brief, licenses and of course the license fee being offered (which we'll advise on, based on the rights you need).

If you have a consistent and/or significant need for pre-licensed music at a fixed rate, you should set up an opportunity. The result will be a large pool of fully licensed, affordable songs ready for use whenever you need them.

Generally, no. We do reserve the right to bill for set up time in rare cases (for example, if we need to engage in extensive back and forth with your attorney regarding licenses or the service agreement), but we'll alert you to these set up costs before we do the work.

Opportunities are set up by us based on information that you provide. To get started, please complete the client registration form. We'll work with you to dial in the specifics of your opportunity, then post it in the system, at which point you can log in and start downloading licensed songs for immediate use.

Assuming you can provide clear direction regarding rights, budget, and creative (and approve the license forms quickly), we can have an opportunity launched within days.

You'll start to see songs licensed within minutes of us announcing your opportunity to the hundreds of record labels and other music reps who use BrandsForBands. It's common to have around 1,000 songs fully licensed within the first week of an opportunity launch. That number then grows in the days, weeks and months that follow.

Yes. Once your opportunity is live, you can quickly, easily and anonymously invite a music rep to license a specific song for your opportunity. We'll send you an email notification when the song is licensed (usually within hours).

Licenses in conjunction with opportunities are set up so that you (the licensee) have already electronically signed the master and composition licenses. So when a rightsholder (licensor) electronically signs the licenses, the song is considered fully licensed and is available for immediate use. In cases where a song is licensed as a "one-off" outside of an opportunity, or a rightsholder isn't able or willing to sign a license electronically, we'll draft licenses to be signed offline. We're not averse to doing this (sometimes it’s unavoidable), but our aim is to have all licensing occur "in the box", thereby saving all parties a lot of time and effort.

Yes, our sophisticated tracking functionality alerts you via email and on your dashboard when the license term for a specific song use has expired. You can then choose to stop exhibiting the use of the song, or invite the song's rightsholder(s) to renew the license.

All songs in BrandsForBands are streaming-only until they're licensed for at least one of your opportunities. This is to protect both us and you against unauthorized song uses.

We recognize that clients (particularly video and film editors) often need to test a song against picture before finalizing an edit, which necessitates having the actual audio file. We're happy to forward these upon request.

BrandsForBands includes robust song filtering functionality, which gives users the ability to search by a multitude of attributes, including genre, tempo, keywords, sounds like, vocal gender, mood and others. You can combine as many of these filters as you want (for example, to find mid-tempo indie rock with female vocals and lyrics featuring the word "fun"). The result is extremely granular search results, if you need them. Or go broad and see what comes up.

Absolutely. We understand that sometimes you just need a real person to help you find the right song, and we're happy to do that. We do reserve the right to charge for especially labor-intensive searches, but we'll notify you of this in advance. In most case, we're happy to put together a playlist at no charge.

We're always available to license songs that you find outside of BrandsForBands (we call these "offline clearances"). Our team has decades of experience licensing songs from artists of every stature, and from hundreds of rightsholders around the world. Our pricing for these types of clearances is divided into two parts: obtaining quotes from the rightsholders, then handling the long form licensing for the song, should you want to proceed with the use. Please contact us for more information and pricing on offline clearances.

New music is being uploaded to BrandsForBands by record labels and other music hourly, and we add it to our collection in weekly batches. We encourage you to check back often to see what's come in.

Feel free to contact us with any questions you might have. We'll get right back to you.