News Music for Use on High School Newscast

[elopez09227 2]

Hi, I'm a producer for the newscast of my high school. Currently, we are using hip hop beats for music. Okay, not something you'd take seriously, but that's the direction that all the students want to go in. Now I've seen this process being done before, where schools use actual news music from actual news music companies (Gari, 615, etc.).

 

These questions have probably been asked on this board in the past. But how would I go about getting a professional package on next year's newscasts (since we do the news for only 1st semester)? Do I need to contact the company directly for legal permission? I have a portion of a package, but I'm not going to do anything with it since I don't know of the consequences.

 

Now I don't know one thing about the news music business, so forgive me here. Is it free to obtain full packages direct from the company? If not, what are the rates (I got my eye on Gari's Image News)? Are there any educational discounts? Will the companies even give anything to schools or is it on a station-only basis? Am I better off getting a cheap production library tune?

 

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[ABC11EWN 0]

I had that same question about 6 years ago when I was an Executive Producer/main Anchor for my High School newscast. I'm now a senior in college, and the Assistant News Director, a producer and Anchor for one of the tv stations at my University. I emailed the Gari company directly and got a personaly written response from one of the staff (who was very helpful!). They said they give away a few packages every year to schools across the country. They do not offer educational discounts. But, they do have older news music packages available for a negotiable price. I inquired to 615 Music for our University broadcast and was told that generally, the more popular news music packages cost anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000 for exclusive use rights to the package within your market. If your school is willing, I would suggest emailing a company directly and try to strike a deal or negotiate a price you can afford, for an older music package. If not, definitely go with the much less expensive production music! Good luck and have a great season this semester!

[ElliotJones 52]

There's plenty of good production tracks out there on Freeplay and in 615's Library.

 

or just use the package anyway if it doesn't air outside the school

[Aaron Gant 1]

Check out the music libraries. There are tons of great, contemporary, tunes you can use for much less than you would think. The problem, and expense, of using current licensed news music is market exclusivity. You pay the price for being the only station in your market with access to that particular package. There is no market exclusivity in the music library business.

 

I would be willing to bet that if you picked a song from a music library that you wanted to use, and you contacted that company and explained that you are a high school and that it was for a non-broadcast (just playing in the school) use, that you could get a license for around $100.

 

I would suggest this exercise for any student wanting to work in broadcast television. Finding the music, contacting the company, getting the contract and license, paying the bill, then using the music in a production . . . these are all things stations are doing everyday and it would be good to learn how to do.

 

Who knows, you might find yourself using them over and over again for your music needs.

[Ntropolis 593]

I don't think you'd really need a full news music package for a school newscast. I don't know what your school does, but I'd think most high school newscasts would just have open and close music. Not all production music is bad... I wouldn't stay away.

 

My school doesn't have a newscast, but we do have some production music CDs from Killer Tracks.