How much does it cost to license a mixdown of a song?
Has anyone here ever tried to actually do this or know someone that's done this before?
every person i have ever talked to at the US labels (Warner, Sony, Universal) say that unpublished material (like an instrumental mixdown of a song) can't be bought without a license, the cheapest one of which i know of is about 1150 USD - for one unpopular song. For popular songs, minimum numbers are 3000 or more depending on the value of the track.
some songs, like tearin' up my heart, would be worth that kind of bank, but a grand per track for relatively unknown songs from low level producers seems pretty damn outrageous. the most i've ever spent on a mix is 75 euros (for Rami's I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman instrumental) and my typical buying price is $25 per mix - much less than one fucking thousand.
Side note: distributor promo discs (like this Papa Roach Infest album instrumental CD) are published material that you wouldn't need a license to buy, but i've never known of a market that sells those types of CDs or a place that has a list of confirmed promo discs. Is anyone in contact with people that know of such a market or list? It would be nice to know which songs I can theoretically track down and which are futile to approach. I'll probably start visiting distributors pretty soon.
