Why am I a Composer?: Mozart is very, very dead.

One of the most common questions I am asked is about licensing music for film. It's probably one of the most misunderstood areas of film making but also one of the most important, especially if you want your film to come across as a considered, holistic entity, which you do!

Let me start with a misunderstanding that I encounter time after time in this business ...

I may get a call or an email from a production company wanting a piece of music like Mozart but they are on a tight budget. No problem film making is expensive I understand this. So the best and the cheapest thing to do would be to license a piece of Mozart that already exists and, of course, sounds exactly like Mozart because he wrote it ... Problem solved!

Well, yeah the problem is solved in my head ... But this is where the misunderstandings begin.

Now, I'm not suggesting for a minute that you lovely film makers and directors should know anything about licensing and how it works, especially how to keep within the law ... I know you really want Mozart but will you get bored with my explanation? Will you finally settle for that ubiquitous and obligatory 'random piano chord' underneath your scene instead? Don't do it, stick to your vision! A random piano chord is not a vision, music should never be just some random shit that you stick under your film because you cannot be bothered with the paperwork ;0)

So that brings me to two things really, yes if you want Mozart or Beethoven in your movie there will be paperwork if you want a random piano chord then you can probably do that yourself and save yourself the paperwork.

"If you lift a piece of Mozart from a CD without the express permission from the recording artists involved then you are breaking the law".

The other thing which is often misunderstood is the fact that you can have real Mozart at all. Surely I can't have Mozart in my little film? You might say. But of course you can as Mozart is very, very dead and his compositions are now in the Public Domain (another area of discussion).

However, if you lift a piece of Mozart or Bach or Cliff Richard (hmm) from a CD without the express permission from the recording artists involved then you are breaking the law. That random piano chord is calling to you ... I can hear it!

So, if you can have Mozart's music but you can't have a recording of Mozart without permission how can you have Mozart at all? This is where licensing comes in.

For instance in the film Prometheus, Ridley Scott licensed this exact piece of Chopin unfortunately he did not license that particular performance which was my version. But the music is of course identical and that version on Amazon only belongs to me because I'm the performer and I (my company) own the recording copyright. Ridley could have just as easily licensed my version and of course I wish he had!

The fundamental thing though is the music, it's Chopin and it worked perfectly in that scene. We can always learn from those master film makers, if Ridley had decided to go with a random piano chord then I would not have devoted quite a sizable chunk of this blog to his film! And you do want people to talk about your film don't you? Yes of course you do and that is another great reason to license great music ...

Finally, do look at Kubricks's work for inspiration in this area, he licensed many great pieces and his films were discussed more and more successful because of it.

And if, after all that you still want a random piano chord for your latest film 'The Time Before Pianos' then try D minor it's the most cliched choice ;0)

- David C. Hëwitt

For more info please visit my site here: http://dchewitt.com