Earlier this month, we wrote about Ari Herstand, an independent musician who pursued his own investigation into the sinister world of pay-for-play music festivals, exposing two US events with several prominent bands on their lineups as little more than pay-for-play schemes.
One such event potentially put artists and bands in the hole for $1,200 by offering them ticket ‘packages’, which the acts were then expected to sell to their family and friends. Thankfully, most agree that such pay-for-play models are a scourge on the music industry.
However, it appears that such exploitative practices aren’t confined to live events. While there’s long been a debate over how much an artist should be paid for having their music included in a movie or television show, one independent UK production company has gone beyond the pale.
As Music Business Worldwide reports, Department-F Films recently contacted a series of labels and managers with what they referred to as a “golden opportunity”. What was the opportunity? Only the privilege of being featured in one of their upcoming films.
Apparently, Department-F are working on a new feature titled Over and Over, some sort of “music business revenge story”, and they’re offering an up-and-coming artist the chance to feature in a short scene as the support act to the headline band in the movie.
The chosen act will also have their poster featured elsewhere in the film’s footage and enjoy “the option to have one track featured as a bonus track on one version of the soundtrack album, which is going to be promoted like a regular album”, according to their pitch letter.
“The artist may also perform in one real live support slot for the film if one takes place,” they add. “Plus they can have one of their CDs and a T-shirt included in the goody bag given out at the film’s premier and two tickets per band member or solo artist for the premier [sic].” Wow!
Department-F also require the selected artist to record three songs in total, performed live, which will be included on the film’s DVD extras. And how will the band be remunerated for their time and efforts? They won’t be. In fact, they’re the ones who have to pay. A whopping £10,000 (AUD$19,897).
“Because this opportunity can only go to one artist and it will be hotly contested we are likely to hold an auction to win this opportunity,” they write. “The minimum bid to get in on this opportunity will be £10,000 so please don’t waste your time or ours by contacting us if you can’t afford to pay for this opportunity.”
“The artist will have to grant all rights to music used in the film, on DVD extras and soundtrack, free of charge, including any sync rights, to Department-F as this is predominantly a promotional avenue. However where any radio plays occur they will get the PRS payment as normal.” How generous of them.
But that’s not the only way that Department-F hope to profit off up-and-coming artists. No, they have plenty more ‘opportunities’ to rip off hard-working musicians. For example, 25 runners-up will be granted the “opportunity to have their merchandise featured in a key scene in the film for a smaller fee”.
[include_post id=”448102″]
As Music Business Worldwide notes, five of these runner-up ‘opportunities’ cost £2,000 each, 10 cost £1,000 each, and a further 10 cost £500 each. You can check out the full list of ‘packages’ that Department-F are offering below.
In the interests of adding insult to injury, the letter also specifies that “a big marketing spend is lined up for the film in the UK alone”. Right, so these guys have money, but they’re looking to charge up-and-coming artists to use their music and keep the sync rights.
You know, we thought charging young, naive bands over a thousand dollars in order to play on a music festival lineup was about as scummy as you could get, but this takes things to a whole new level. We never thought we’d say this, but this is actually worse than just not paying a musician at all.
OVER AND OVER: ‘ARTIST BUY ON’ PACKAGES
Package One:
Support act in films live sequence playing thirty seconds to one minute of track live and getting a plug for artist’s name.
Three live performance tracks and the acts own pop video promoting their latest single, if applicable. Link to website & contact details on DVD extras.
Poster to feature prominently in one major scene in the film.
The artist’s promo T-shirt featured in another scene, if they have one.
Snatch of one song on jukebox in pub scene.
Listed in film credits.
Option to have their CD and T-shirt or alternative merchandise in goody bag for film premiere.
Two tickets per solo artist or per band member to film premiere.
One copy of official DVD of film.
One real support slot on one gig that the main band may play to promote the film.
One track on download version of the film’s soundtrack album on itunes etc and Spotify but not on the CD or vinyl version of the soundtrack.
Highest bidder; Starting bid £10,000
Package Two:
Poster to feature prominently in one major scene in the film.
The artist’s promo T-shirt featured in another scene, if they have one.
Snatch of one song on jukebox in pub scene.
Listed in film credits.
Option to have their CD and T-shirt or one alternative merchandise product in goody bag for film premiere.
Two tickets per solo artist or one ticket per band member to film premiere.
£2,000 (5 opportunities)
Package Three:
Poster on walls in background of one major scene.
The artist’s promo T-shirt featured in another scene, if they have one.
Option to have their CD and T-shirt or one alternative merchandise product in goody bag for film premier.
Two tickets to premiere.
£1,000 (10 opportunities)
Package Four:
Fleeting shot of artist’s poster or flyer on wall in one scene.
Option to have their CD and T-shirt or one alternative merchandise product in goody bag for film premiere.
£500 (10 opportunities)
‘All artists will waive any image rights and music sync rights in the film. ie we use them for free with no payments due in any way. The artist will not receive any fee for a live support slot outside of the film.
No artist’s royalty will be paid for appearing on the download soundtrack but the artist will receive PRS payment for airplay and MCPS song writing royalties for download and Spotify sales.
Artists, their management or label manager will supply all posters, T-shirts, CDs and any merchandise required at their own expense to the film company.’
