Commercial Production Process (Sourcing Music)

1. DeclanTyldesley
Commercial Production Process
Sourcing Music
For my final taskinPR11 I am goingto talkabouthow Producersof radiocommercialssource the
musicthat theyuse.The Producerof a radiocommercial isable topick outlicensedmusicin
multiple differentwayssuchas;pickingoutof a copyrightclearedmusiclibrarythe companyhe
worksfor mayhave or he may source an original piece of music.Thismeansthathe will bringina
musicianthatmade a specificsongtrack to thenhave himsingitover ina recordingstudio.
Correspondinglysome of the considerationsthe Producermayneedtoconsiderwhenmakinghis
commercial radioadvertisement;isthe style,functionandpossiblyatag or sting.He will needto
considerthese three aspectsinaknowledgeable waydependingonwhichdemographicaudience he
isintendingtoattract. Bydoingthisif he attracts hisdemographicaudience well,the commercial
radioadvertisementwillhave more chance of beingmore successful.Withinthe sense theyare
encouragedtogo to the companystore or buythe product theyare advertising.The style is
incrediblyimportanttoconsiderbecause thisisthe aspectwhentheydecide if theywanttheir
advertisementtobe formal,informal,direct,pastiche etc.Thiscanall vary as I saidbefore
dependingonthe demographicaudience theyare attracting.The secondaspectof the production
processisthe functionof the commercial radioadvertisement.The function aspectiswhenthey
decide onwhatto playin the backgroundthroughoutthe entire commercialradioadvertisement.
The functional soundtrackthatcouldbe playinginthe backgroundof the advertisementcanalso
signal a tag or stingthat may be repeatingthe productsname asan incidental tagor stingthatthe
listenersmayclockontoo.
It isalso importantthata Producerseekspermissionforthe musiche wantstouse inhiscommercial
radioadvertisement. He needstodothisbecause withoutalicence withthe PPLorPRS formusicor
permissionfromthe songsProducer,the companyhe workswithorthe Producerwill be fineda
substantial amountof money.Thisisbecause he isinotherwordsillegallyusingcopyrightedmusic.
Howeverif he doeshave one of these,he alsohasto follow the legal requirementsgivenbythe ASA
(AdvertisingStandardsAuthority).He’llhave tofollow the rulesgivenbythe ASA because if his
advertisementisharmful,dishonest,misleadingetc.The ASA will notallow theiradvertisementto
be broadcastedon a commercial radiostation.If he continuestosendmisleadingadvertisementsto
the ASA theywill eventuallyreportittoOfcom(The Office of Communications) sotheycangive a
fine orban to the produceror company. To avoidthishappeningProducersmayseeklicensesfrom
the PPL or PRS formusic. If theygaina commercial musiclicence theywill be able touse anymusic
the PPL or PRS formusiccopyright,howeverif he decidestouse a soundtracktheydon’tcopyright
he’ll have topaythe PRSfor musicso theycan give the royaltiestothe correct artist that made that
particularsong.
Withinthe commercial productionprocessthere isalsosomethingknownasfair-use andthe seven
secondrule. Anaspectof fair-use isthe entiretyof the songbeingplayedonradio,meaningif all of
that musician’ssongisplayed(everysecond)onradioitwill deemedasillegal.Despite some
produce may make the mistake of the sevensecondrule,thisisnotreal orlegal andif any secondof
a musicianssongisplayedwithoutthe producersorcompanyhavingalicence theywill be fineda
substantial amountof money. The sevensecondruledefinitionmeansisif sevensecondsorlessof a
musicianstrackis played itisclassedlegal.If aproducerwasto make thismistake he or the
companywill eitherbe warned orfined.Soinotherwordsthe sevensecondrule doesnotexist,in
fact the onlywayyou can use an artist’ssongfor free isif it isfor educational purposes.However
youcannot make moneyoff of thissong track if it isfor educational purposesonly.
In contrastto thisthere is alsoa strategy inwhichproducerscan use and itis usingtheirownoriginal
piece of sourcedmusicsotheycan legallyuse itintheircommercial radioadvertisement.Inother

2. DeclanTyldesley
wordsthismeansthe producerhimself couldrecordhimself playinganacousticguitarasan example
and fromthisonce it iscreatedhe can use it inhisadvertisementandalsonothave to worryabout
copyrightsoThe Office of Communicationsdonotgetinvolved.Anotherstrategytheycoulduse is
use isto pay a musicianandgetthemto recorda piece of music.Howeverthisonthe otherhand
involvespayingthe musicianandthe musicianreceivingroyalty’severytimethe commercial radio
advertisementisplayed.LastlyIam goingtotalk aboutE6 radio.E6 radiois allowedtouse
commercial copyrightedmusicbecause itisall usedforeducational purposes,howevertheyare not
allowedtobroadcastoutof the sixthform centres or else Ofcomwill getinvolvedwithaspectssuch
as copyright. The sourcesof thismusicwill come fromthe musiciansthemselvesasE6 use a
copyrightedsecure musicfolder.Please lookbelow tosee ashortscreenshotof ourmusiclibrary;