Tag: bbc

We’ve made it easy for production companies to use our music in TV broadcast content

If you are a production company: did you know you can easily use our production music for BBC, ITV, SKY, DISCOVERY, RTL, NPO, SBS, or radio content? Through the MCPS-PRS or BUMA-STEMRA licence with the BBC and other broadcasters, you can access all our production music tracks of the highest quality for free, making our music an obvious choice for BBC productions.

The blanket TV broadcast licence gives access to tracks for use on the BBC’s public service television channels, radio stations, on-demand services and the BBC World Service.

So to be clear the tracks of our Soundgram music library are already covered under the BBC’s licence with PRS for Music.

A bit more about the licence…

It covers all of the following BBC Television channels – BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, BBC News, BBC Parliament, CBeebies, CBBC, BBC Scotland, BBC Alba, BBC Arabic (World Service) and BBC Persia (World Service). Radio channels – Radio 1, Radio 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4, Radio 4 Extra, Radio 5 Live, Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, Radio 6 Music, Asian Network, Radio Scotland, Radio Nan Gàidheal, Radio Ulster, Radio Foyle, Radio Wales, Radio Cymru, Radio Cymru 2, BBC Local Radio and BBC World Service.

From 2019, the Soundgram Production Music Library can be used in content made for the above services without additional fees being charged to the BBC, the producer, or the distributor for the creation or distribution of content further down the line. This means that content can be sold or supplied to the likes of Netflix, Amazon or Britbox (who will have their own licences for copying and streaming content on their platforms).

Here’s a Q&A to help you with some questions you might have:

Q. I’m working on a BBC television programme for one or more of the channels outlined above. BBC Studios will then sell it on to third parties (e.g. Netflix, Britbox, Amazon Prime, iTunes). Is that covered by the licence?

A. Yes, the licence includes distribution rights to third parties.

Q. What if the programme I’m working on is sold by another distributor? Is that also covered by the licence?

A. Yes, as long as the programme is being produced for use on the BBC’s public service television channels, the licence includes the right for all distributors to sell the programme to third parties, not just BBC Studios.

Q. We’re producing content for the BBC in the UK and we would like to use some of Soundgram’s and other MCPS Production Music, is that covered by the licence?

A. Yes, all tracks from Soundgram and MCPS Production Music is covered.

Q. Does it cover co-productions?

A. Yes, as long as the BBC has contributed at least 10% of the total production costs.

Q. Will promos made under the licence be cleared for use online (e.g. Facebook, YouTube etc.)?

A. Yes, promos containing Soundgram’s production music can be made available on social media and other online services worldwide.

Q. Anything else I should be aware of?

A. Where content made under the BBC’s (or ITV/NPO/RTL) blanket licence is sold or supplied to a third party service (e.g. Netflix, YouTube or Facebook), that third party should have a licence to cover any copies it makes, and any streams or downloads of the content it makes available.

Got further questions? Please get in touch.