Frequently Asked Questions

Music Dealers is a true advocate for independent artists; we provide direct avenues for artists to monetize their art. We understand the complexities of the industry today and our purpose as a company is to give artists a simple means to continue creating, thriving, and building their brands.

To achieve this, we have sales teams in 3 countries finding opportunities to pitch your music to. Also, we've built an intuitive music app called the Discovery Tool that allows our clients to come to MusicDealers.com and locate your music for their project.

We keep things simple and fair and always have our artists best interests in mind. We're here so you can continue to create art, so you can monetize your music and quit your job (or never get one), so you can keep doing what you're here to do.

The world of music licensing is all around you. Any music you hear in a commercial, movie, video game or on a TV show was licensed. When you, as an artist, license a track to a company, you give them the right to use your music for whatever purposes you've agreed to. In return, that company will pay you for letting them use your music. And here's the best part: You're not actually selling your song. You still retain all the rights to your music so you can license a song over and over again. Zero risk and endless opportunity - every reason to put your music to work.
Please check out our music licensing resource page for additional information. (www.musiclicensinginfo.com)

When we say no strings attached, we mean it. Our contract is 100% non-exclusive so you're free to explore any and all opportunities for your music.

Unquestionably, undeniably, without a doubt: YES. This is a totally non-exclusive website. We do not lay claim to any of the rights to your music. Even when you place a track, it is still 100% yours. License it again, put it on an album, remix it and play it at your mom's birthday party, whatever. It's your music, do what you want with it.

We only accept 320kb MP3 files. Make sure you have wave files handy - some clients will request them and we will be contacting you for them.

No. When you upload a song you click the "Agree to terms" box, which acts as a digital signature.

To request removal of songs, go to your artist profile and click the expand button to the right of the song title you would like to have removed. On the left, select "Request Removal." Navigate past the first page and on the second page you'll see the box that says "Please remove this song." Check the box, fill out the reason and save. Once you've requested removal the song will be removed from our catalog within 30 days.

The newest version of Mozilla Firefox works best for MusicDealers.com.

We add "MDV" (Music Dealers Version) to the beginning of every track title in our catalog. We "tag" tracks for three reasons:

1. To fulfill our 50/50 publishing split. While MusicDealers.com doesn't own any of the actual rights to your music, we are income participants for 50% of the subsequent publishing royalties.
2. To help your P.R.O. distinguish track placements that MusicDealers.com secured for you.
3. So you retain all the rights to your original "untagged" track and are free to do whatever you want with it.

Still confused? This should clear things up: Say you have a track called "Get Up and Dance" and Music Dealers places it in a Nike commercial. At the same time, you independently place it in an episode of The Office on NBC. When your P.R.O. is notified of these placements, the Nike commercial track would be called "MDV - Get Up and Dance" while The Office version would be just called "Get Up and Dance". Any royalties you earn through The Office would have nothing to do with us and go directly to you. A tag protects you by ensuring we only share in 50% of the publishing royalties from placements that we secure, while you retain 100% ownership. You can still license it again to someone else; release it on your own, whatever. Essentially, we tag tracks so you retain all the rights to your songs. "Tagging" helps you, not us.

You can begin the process by simply visiting musicdealers.com/got-music and selecting, 'got music' and following the steps. There is no submission process, MD does not need to give you an ok before you join, and you can begin immediately on your own.

And just keep in mind, you will need accurate publishing information for all the music you upload, including the CAE/IPI #'s for all writers and publishers involved. You may want to assemble that before you begin uploading.

Lastly, you should also have the instrumental versions for your vocal songs ready to upload.

Seeing what we have placed before is always helpful in gauging what type of music gets placed. It also helps set parameters on what kind of quality our clients expect from us. You can see some of our placements on our blog here: http://bit.ly/14ssPJv

To add additional band members, managers, etc. to our mailing list for newsletters, happenings and upcoming open opportunities on our Deal Board, please add them via our email form here: http://eepurl.com/mSEkP

Once you enter in the email address, you will be sent a confirmation email. Click the link in the email and you are all set to go.

Yes, you can create and manage multiple artist profiles from one account, which you can do from your dashboard.

You can see details about how to do that here: http://bit.ly/Ysgg8G

No we do not.

Many of our deals will have a front end payout (license fee), and back end royalties (performance royalties or streaming fees).

Some of our deals may not have a front end payout but will earn significant back end royalties. A very small percentage of our deals will be purely promotional deals that have neither front end or back end payouts. 

We recognize that you may not be interested in promotional/gratis deals. We've given you the option to opt out of these arrangements. If you choose to opt out, your music will not be considered for anything that does not have an upfront payout.

Understand that if you choose to opt out of promotional opportunities (no front end or back end, just exposure) you will also be removed from opportunities that may earn you significant back end royalties (a placement on an MTV show, for example).

You absolutely do not have to be a member of a PRO, but we do recommend that you join one. If you affiliate with a PRO after you've joined, you can simply update the information for your songs through your profile and let us know.

Our contract states that whoever is signing the agreement has the rights to upload the material. If you have not acquired the right to upload this material (as in there are copyright holders involved that have no idea that this material is on our site) than you should not begin uploading material to MD. So yes, inform all the rights holders.

It’s as long as you want it to be. Since there's no defined term on the non-exclusive contract, you can get out of it at anytime. Upon your request to end the contract, your account and music will be removed from the site within 30 days.

There are five different ways your songs can be submitted for an opportunity.

1. You can submit your songs via the Deal Board.
2. Our A&R's can suggest and submit your songs.
3. Our Creative Directors can submit your music if it fits the client's needs.
4. Our clients have the ability to search our catalog themselves and find your music.
5. We have four sales teams on two continents that are pitching your music.
   

When you upload music to your profile it goes through a process before it is available to our clients. Once your song is uploaded it has to clear our rights management (publishing) department. This makes sure the rights you claim to have are accurate. Once it has cleared this department, it goes to our music review team. A member of that team listens to the song from front to back and tags it with between 200-300 different tags from BPM to vocal themes to instruments to mood and so on. Once reviewed, it enters the catalog and becomes ready for clients to listen and license.

To view our song review process, visit: http://bit.ly/zLk5hA

You will not have the ability to examine every deal that your music has the potential to be a part of. Given the amount of music that we license, it would be impossible to confirm the specifics with every artist beforehand.

But, we do provide you with several tools to ensure that we are using your music how you want it used. We provide our artists with a list of industries they can exclude their music from (Politics, Religion, Tobacco, Alcohol, Fast Food/Soda, Oil, Military, Pharmaceuticals, and Pornography). We provide the option to opt out of particular deals (promotional or gratis deals for example). Lastly, we allow artists to set a minimum licensing fee amount.

Using these options, we will avoid the deals that you do not want to be a part of.

You will see these options as you create your profile and upload songs.

A W-8BEN is a tax form for non-US payees. Sometimes we are required to withhold a certain percentage of payment depending on where you live. This is due to different tax treaties between the US and other countries. For example, we withhold 0% for Canadian payees, but have to withhold 5% for payees in Spain.

Please be sure to:

- select one option on Line 3 and that it matches the name on line 1.
- complete Part II as completely as necessary.
- sign and date your form.

If you have any questions about the form, we suggest that you contact an accountant or tax professional.

Music Dealers requires a tax form from every payee we work with. If we license your music, we will need a tax form before we can send you payment.

Are you a US taxpayer?
You can download the W-9 form here:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf

We require a W-9 from every US payee. If we do not have a valid W-9 from you, we cannot pay you.

Please be sure:
-That you sign your form
-Your name/business name corresponds to your Tax ID number (if your payee is a business, we need the Employer ID number. If your payee is an individual, we need the Social Security Number)

Are you a NON-US payee?
You can find the W-8BEN form as well as instructions and other information here:
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Form-W-8BEN,-Certificate-of-Foreign-Status-of-Ben...

We require a W-8BEN from every non-US payee. If we do not have a valid W-8BEN from you, we cannot pay you.

There is never a fee to join Music Dealers. We only require a PayPal account so we can easily pay you once we place your music. We do understand that some countries do not have access to PayPal and if that is the case, send an email to artist.support@musicdealers.com and we will help you out.

There are no signup fees to join Music Dealers. When we get a placement for you, we will split the fee earned from licensing your song (both master and publishing sides) 50/50. And, in the event that your song will be in a position to earn royalties, Music Dealers will register the song with an MDV tag (to separate our placed version from your version) and share in 1/2 of the publishers side of publishing income. You will keep 100% of the writers share and the remaining 50% of the publishers share.

Another huge benefit of MusicDealers.com: About 75% of our placements pay royalties. In other words, your placed track can keep paying you for years past the point of license. But in order to receive royalties, your music must be registered with a P.R.O. a.k.a. Performing Rights Organization. Check out a list of P.R.O.'s worldwide here. The minute one of your songs is placed, MusicDealers.com will notify your P.R.O. of the exact media and details of the placement. Your P.R.O. will then track your plays and send you royalty checks directly. We can't stress enough how important it is you register your songs with a P.R.O. Doing so gives your music the power to work a lot harder for you. Who doesn't want more checks in the mail?

There are no signup fees. Zero. Our contract is simple: we work on a percentage basis so we don't get a check unless you get a check, and our check is the same amount as yours.

Music Dealers pays out 45 days after end of the quarter that we've been paid in.

We receive payments from the client anywhere from 30-120 days after the placement airs. Music Dealers payment quarters begin on Jan 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1. You will be paid within 45 days of the end of the quarter.

Q1 payments are sent out May 15
Q2 payments are sent out Aug 15
Q3 payments are sent out Nov 15
Q4 payments are sent out Feb 15

So for example, if you receive a placement on January 1, 2013 (Quarter 1) and we receive payment for the placement on April 1 2013 (Quarter 2), you will be paid within 45 days of the end of Q2 - Aug 15.

The system is dependent upon when we receive payment from the client, which we try to do as quickly as possible so we can pay you.

No. Creative Commons music can result in several conflicts of interest if we place the song, including proper reception of royalty payments and synch/master fees. As well, our clients would be paying for a song that they could potentially get elsewhere for free. We love the idea of artists posting their works for free and legal-free collaborations, but please only upload original works that only you control.

When uploading a cover, title the song as "Song Title (Cover)" so we can immediately identify that it is a cover and catalog it accordingly. For PRO info, enter "Cover" in the writer and publisher boxes and "No Affiliation" from the affiliation drop box.

A song in the public domain will still collect royalties for a public performance, albeit, at a lower rate. The song's publishing information section should include all of the new writers who arranged the song and a placeholder for the original composer, which is done by adding another writer and putting the word TRADITIONAL in the songwriter name field. That placeholder needs to also be assigned the PRO affiliation "Public Domain" from the drop down and assigned a 0% writer share. This applies only to the writer portion. The publisher portion will only contain you and your bandmate's publishing entity. The finished product would look like this:

Title: Jingle Bells
Writer 1 / ASCAP / 25%
Writer 2 / ASCAP / 25%
Writer 3 / ASCAP / 25%
Writer 4 / ASCAP / 25%
Traditional / Public Domain / 0%

Any publishing information that you've updated or changed (please see 'How do I edit my publishing information?' if you need help) is immediately reflected in our system.

We may need to make some adjustments to other information depending on whether or not we've registered one of your works with a PRO. So, if you are changing or updating publishing information, send an email to publishing@musicdealers.com to let us know.

In the subject line, write:

Updated Publishing Information - Your Artist Name

In the body of the email, let us know what songs have been changed. You'll be all set.

To edit your publishing information, go to your profile, expand the "details" tab for the song you want to edit, then click "edit" on the left. You'll be on the page where your publishing information is located. Make your changes then click "Accept."

To see how to do this, visit: http://bit.ly/XWW0gj

To change your login details, login to your account and visit your artist dashboard. On the left side you will see the option "My Account." Click that and it will bring you to your account details page. Here are the options to change your username, email address and password.

To see how to do this, visit: http://bit.ly/12L7A1G

All of this information can be updated and edited by clicking on "Edit Profile" in the top right of your artist profile page. From the top menu bar, select the appropriate information that you would like to edit and save.

To see how to do this, visit: http://bit.ly/16YlQqY

Our song exclusions are on an artist level, not song level. This makes changing them very quick and easy. To switch what you don't want your songs to be licensed to, go to your artist profile and click "Edit Profile" in the top right. From the edit form, click the "Preferences" tab at the top. At the bottom of this page are the exclusions. Make sure the exclusions you want added to your songs you have checked.

To see how to do this, visit: http://bit.ly/12iz4Mi

Clients may want to see who you are and/or want to team up with you, so having a current picture is always helpful when being pitched.

To change your profile picture, go to your artist profile and click "Edit Profile" in the top right. From the top menu bar, select "Biography." Under this tab, there is an option to add your profile picture. If you are changing it to a different picture, you will have to first click "Remove" under your current picture and then it will allow you to select the new pic to upload from your computer.

To see how to do this, visit: http://bit.ly/16YlQqY

If you already have your alternate versions uploaded but haven't merged them yet, no worries. You will first need to click on the details arrow to the right of the alternate version you want to merge. When you click the details arrow, a drop down menu will appear with options along the left side. From these options, click “Merge w/ Another Track.” This will take you to our song merge form. The first page of our Song Edit Form contains some of the contract and PRO info. Click through to the second page and it will contain a list of songs that you can merge the alternate version with. Select the original (usually vocal) version from the drop-down box and click “Accept.”

To see how to do this, visit this link: http://bit.ly/13G0gYo

Once you create a username, you will have to create an artist profile. Once created, go to your artist profile and click "Upload Song" in the top right of your artist profile. This will take you to our 2 page upload form. Make sure all your PRO info is correct and accurate and all songs are 320kb MP3 format.

To see how to do this, visit: http://bit.ly/11hzmSh

Any publishing information that you've updated or changed (please see 'How do I edit my publishing information?' if you need help) is immediately reflected in our system.

We may need to make some adjustments to other information depending on whether or not we've registered one of your works with a PRO. So, if you are changing or updating publishing information, send an email to publishing@musicdealers.com to let us know.

In the subject line, write:

Updated Publishing Information - Your Artist Name

In the body of the email, let us know what songs have been changed. You'll be all set.

Your music is still on your profile! It just means your songs are still in the review pipeline and haven't become visible to people who aren't signed in. Everything is still there.

To edit your song titles, expand the details tab for the song you want to change, then click "edit" on the left. Navigate past the page containing your contract and publishing information to the next page. The first field you will see is the song title field. Edit your title then click "accept" and your song title is changed.

Maybe you've signed an exclusive deal or you're giving up music and joining a cult. Either way, all you need to do is go to your profile, click 'edit profile' on the right, navigate to the bottom of the next page and click 'Remove Artist Request' and follow the steps. Keep in mind that the removal process takes up to 30 days. MD hates to see anyone go!

To delete or remove songs, go to your artist profile and click the expand button to the right of the song title you would like to have removed. On the left, select "Request Removal." Navigate past the first page and on the second page you'll see the box that says "Please remove this song." Check the box, fill out the reason and save. Once you've requested removal the song will be removed from our catalog within 30 days.

To see how to do this, visit: http://bit.ly/12Xfo0W

Switching songs between public and private is very simple. Go to your artist profile and expand the details button of the song. On the left, select 'Edit.' Navigate to the second page edit form and there will be an option to switch between public and private (below song title and type). Click your selection and save.

To see how to do this, visit: http://bit.ly/XsIT6p

A royalty free sample is any music that you purchased on a 'loop cd', 'sound library kit', or any other production library sounds that are available for commercial use. These are fine for use at MD.

Uploading your songs as private or public has no affect on your chances to get placements. Our clients as well as staff here at Music Dealers can view and pitch your music either way you upload. Uploading songs as private just ensures that anyone that visits your profile won't be able to see or listen to the songs marked private.

No. Editors will typically cut their own versions to fit their needs, so it is not necessary to upload those various legnths/versions of one song.

1. Make outstanding music.
2. Make outstanding music.
3. Make sure you upload instrumental versions and complete your profile.
4. Brands like to be associated with rising stars. If you're an artist, playing shows, getting press, and building buzz is always great for licensing.

Yes you may upload covers. Please add the word "Cover" in parenthesis to the song title, i.e. My Song (Cover)

If you have accurate publishing information to include, please do. Should there be interest in your cover, our publishing department will run the necessary checks.

As quoted from BMI;

"The IPI/CAE number is an international identification number assigned to songwriters and publishers to uniquely identify rights holders.

IPI stands for: Interested Parties Information

CAE stands for: Composer, Author and Publisher"

US writers and publishers - to quickly find your IPI/CAE#, you can run a search for yourself in the database of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC to retrieve your number.

http://www.ascap.com/Home/ace-title-search/index.aspx

http://repertoire.bmi.com/startpage.asp

https://www.sesac.com/Repertory/Terms.aspx

Please be sure to select 'writer' or 'publisher' when searching.

For international writers, if you are officially registered with a PRO, your information can be found by searching in ASCAP and BMI. 95% of the time, these databases, which are connected to every PRO in the world, will locate you and quickly provide your IPI/CAE#. So it is best to search here first before contacting your PRO.

If you are still unable to locate yourself (or there are multiple writers with the same name and you cannot figure out which one is you), then you should either log into your PRO account to find your IPI/CAE# or call your PRO and ask.

On the main page of your profile where your songs are located, click “expand” on the right, and on the left, click “Add Another Version” and follow the steps.

To see how to do this, visit: http://bit.ly/WToIUG

Alternate versions of songs such as instrumentals and a capellas can make or break a deal. Having these versions allow our clients to drop vocals in and out when editing your songs to visual media. Some clients will not accept songs unless both versions are immediately available.

Upload full versions of your songs - the client can edit the songs to their desired length.

In an effort to provide the best service to our clients, Music Dealers has recently tightened the reigns on how we receive information. Our Rights Management department consists of publishing experts who check and verify every song that enters the catalog. All artists will be thoroughly researched and if there is any incomplete or incorrect publishing and PRO information you will most likely be rejected. So be sure to have all the songwriters/publishers of your songs, be positive that there are no major affiliations or exclusive situations tied to any songs that are uploaded to MD, and list out full names of writers and publishing companies for every song (including CAE/IPI numbers).

Broadcast quality means your music is ready to be put into a commercial, TV show, etc. It has to be recorded and mixed properly. Clients rarely will wait for artists to re-record songs—they want songs they can get right away and throw into their project immediately.

Absolutely. In the PRO affiliation dropdown, you can select "No Affiliation." Make sure that all publishers and writers are correctly listed, if you have incomplete or incorrect information, your music will probably be turned down.

We currently do not have a mass uploading system and you will have to upload tracks one by one.

Music Dealers not only licenses music - we pair artists with brands. Clients and brands like to know more about the artist. If they want to pair up for a campaign with an artist they want to know they are touring, relevant and active in the music scene. Having a complete bio, picture and relevant buzz points are very important elements to your profile and can only help you.

Clients are able to search our database by lyric theme and specific keywords in songs. If a client comes to us needing a song with the word "Sunshine" in the chorus, our system can find that.

Adding lyrics to your songs after you uploaded them is very easy. Expand the details tab for the song you want to add lyrics to, then click "edit" on the left. On the second page of the edit form there will be a Lyrics box to enter in your lyrics.

We do not notify all our artists when submitting music. All songs submitted need to be pre-cleared and ready to go. We give our clients the ability to search our catalog themselves for songs and they can select songs on the spot. This is why notifying artists for each song submitted is not possible.

With the amount of placements increasing daily and the amount of submissions from all four offices, it is hard to tell when your music gets submitted. So, at the moment, there is no way to be notified, but we are working on some upgrades that will allow us to keep you better informed, so stay tuned.

This is the million-dollar question. Experiences in licensing are different for every artist and band. Some of our artists get placements the next week after uploading. It all depends on timing - having the right song at the right time for the right client.

When you submit a song to an open opportunity on the Deal Board it goes into a submission queue. Once the job closes the creative director that is working directly with our client listens to every submission for accuracy to the description. During this listening process, they will add songs to a playlist. Once all songs have been listened to and the playlist is made with the final songs - we send them off to the client for them to listen and select the perfect song. It is very important to read the descriptions carefully and only submit if you have something that fits.

To learn more about our Deal Board, visit: http://bit.ly/XTypjv

If you did not receive an email from us letting you know your songs were successfully submitted, there is another way to check. Go to your artist profile and select "Job Submissions" from the menu on the right. This will list every opportunity you have submitted for. If it's listed in there - we got it!

To see how to do this, visit: http://bit.ly/ZAgJ90

Once a deadline is over, the playlist is sent in to the client. Sometimes clients will ask for another batch of songs. In this case, we will repost it on the deal board.

Getting your song added to a playlist is the first step to getting your music licensed to a client. If you received an email notification that your song was added to a playlist, that means a client came to us with many specifications regarding the type of music they are looking for and your music met some or all of that criteria. We added your song to a playlist and sent it off to a client for placement consideration. This doesn't mean that you have placed the track, but means the client is listening to your song and you are one step closer to landing a placement. The main reason for the notification is to keep our artists in the loop with what's going on with their music, since we don't post all active jobs on the Deal Board. Please do not respond to your playlist notification email. If your song gets placed, we will contact you (if placement is over $2,500 USD) or you’ll see it on your quarterly statement.

To make sure that you have submitted a song to a job properly, simply click "Job Submissions" on the menu on the right side of your profile. You will then see a list of songs that were successfully submitted.

If something isn't working for you, you may contact our IT team by clicking the "support" tab located on the right side of our site, or you can connect with someone by visiting http://musicdealers.uservoice.com and selecting "contact support" on the right.

Music Dealers is always open to welcoming fresh new talent to our ever-evolving team. If you are interested in becoming a part of the Music Dealers team whether as in an intern or looking for full/part time employment, feel free to send an updated resume and cover letter to our Human Resources department at hr@musicdealers.com. If we feel your skill set is one that would work well in fulfilling a need, we will be in contact with you.

Yes, if you need assistance with something that is not covered on this FAQ, or you just want to say hello, or tell us that we rock, please contact us at artist.support@musicdealers.com.