Music licensing 101 – Learn the basics of music licensing with MediaTracks music

As part of the Mind Your Business strand, we're offering training in a range of areas related to business management & development, production finance, legal & business affairs, rights, and compliance, giving individuals the tools needed to thrive in their chosen field in unscripted TV. 

Music Licensing 101 is a one-hour workshop by MediaTracks, designed for those working in unscripted TV to provide a foundational understanding of music licensing. It covers key concepts such as types of music rights (composition, sound recording, sync, reproduction, and distribution), sourcing music (commercial, bespoke, and production music), licensing processes, and the difference between royalty-free and production music libraries. The session also highlights MediaTracks’ services, including free music supervision, and concludes with insights into equality, diversity, and inclusion in the sync music industry.

Who it's for

Editors, producers, music supervisors - anyone working in unscripted TV interested in understanding how to face the challenges involved in licensing music.

The majority of the USF online short course offering is for those at early career stage and above. As a result, we generally require applicants to have at least 3 credits (unless working in a traditionally uncredited role). If you strongly feel you would still benefit from the training, please email USF@screenskills.com so we can assess if an exception should be made.

We are committed to ensuring all our courses are accessible to everyone. This course is designed to be as interactive as possible. Please email the above address if you have any access requirements and we will be delighted to help, be that clarifying the form such interaction is likely to take or discussing reasonable adjustments.

Trainers:

Alex East - Sync and Licensing Manager UK

Alex’s role is to ensure the continued growth of MediaTracks in the UK market. He is tasked with building and executing the UK sales strategy and managing client relationships. With a degree in Music from St Catherine’s College, Oxford and experience in the media profession, Alex has dedicated much of his time to the arts over the years and is well versed in the language both of musicians and broadcasters alike, making him well placed for his role here at MediaTracks.

With three years of specialized experience in music licensing consultancy services in the media space, Alex has worked with renowned international companies such as Discovery, Viaplay Group, Disney, and NBCU. His experience has equipped him with a deep understanding of the international broadcast media market, including its music trends, the corresponding copyright law, licence negotiation and royalty data and distribution.

Jo Belcher - Business Development, EDI Lead

As the head of partnerships and business development, Jo is responsible for developing and nurturing relationships with EDI (equality diversity and inclusion) partners, while conveying the importance of this work to MediaTracks clients.

In addition Jo organises writing camps for under-represented communities and for educational institutions hosted by MTs to give new artists and composers opportunities to collaborate with like minded musicians to create amazing music.  

Jo obtained a degree in music with a specialist focus on performance (on clarinet, piano and soprano saxophone) and ethnomusicology and a year or so later joined the production music company Audio Network where she worked for 18 years. Here she played a key role in helping to grow the company from a small independent business to a global organisation, particularly contributing to the growth of the roster and the music department. Her background as a project manager and producer gives her deep insight into the creative, commercial and operational realities of production music. 

The majority of the USF online short course offering is for those at early career stage and above. As a result, we generally require applicants to have at least 3 credits (unless working in a traditionally uncredited role). If you strongly feel you would still benefit from the training, please email USF@screenskills.com so we can assess if an exception should be made.

We are committed to ensuring all our courses are accessible to everyone. This course is designed to be as interactive as possible. Please email the above address if you have any access requirements and we will be delighted to help, be that clarifying the form such interaction is likely to take or discussing reasonable adjustments.

How to apply

This session will take place online via Zoom. Click ‘apply now’ at the top of the page and follow the instructions to apply for your place: you must login or register before you are able to complete your application.

If you need additional support to complete your application or require the application form in an alternative format please contact USF@screenskills.com

Places on these free online courses are limited and applications are often highly competitive. To stand the best chance of securing a place, please be sure to consider the following:

• When asked to list your three most recent credits, please include the programme title and your job role.
• When asked what you hope to gain from the course, please be concise but ensure you cover the specific elements of the topic you would like to gain knowledge of and what gaps in your skillset you believe the course may address. A rewording of the course title or a general comment on career progression does not tell us much about how this course would benefit you.

If you are no longer able to attend, we ask you to please use the “decline ticket” function on the right hand side of the page so that we can release your place. Our sessions are often oversubscribed, so we’d like to give other freelancers the opportunity to fill available spots. Thank you for your consideration.

This course is supported by ScreenSkills, by the Unscripted TV Skills Fund thanks to contributions from broadcasters, SVoDs and production companies.

This course would normally cost participants to attend, but thanks to this support, we are able to offer it to you for free. If you fail to attend, we reserve the right to request reimbursement of costs, unless your place can be taken by someone else.