Book Trailer Music

justinai · Sep 25, 2009

Recently the WashingtonPost had an article on authors doing self promotion. One of the ways they mentioned were book trailers.

I write YA, and I love the YA book trailers that are available on sites such as You Tube. My question to the group (and especially those writers who have done a book trailer) is about the music. Recently, several of the book trailers I have seen have used music from groups that I've recognized.

Is this a rights usage issue? Did the authors (I'm assuming most book trailers are author funded, not publisher) buy one time use rights to the music, or are they just using songs they like?

More importantly, if I make a book trailer and my book is wildly popular (I can dream), am I going to get sued by Tricky Dan and the Tricksters for using their song in my trailer?

Discuss.

Katie Alender · Sep 25, 2009

It's fairly expensive to license music, unless it's a band who happens to owe you a favor. I'd say most trailers you find that feature mainstream music are hoping to get away with it long enough to sell a few books.

One thing you can do to get around the problem is look for composers who are interested in having something for their reel.

justinai · Sep 25, 2009

Thanks, Katie. I've seen your book trailer by the way, very nice.

maestrowork · Sep 25, 2009

Rights are expensive. Not sure about individual song or work, but we tried to get ASCAP once and they wanted over $800. And that was over 10 years ago.

If I'm going to do a trailer (still a LONG way) I'll write my own. I already have three pieces done.

cscarlet · Sep 25, 2009

Katie, your book trailer is awesome. I've seen other book trailers where people splice movie scenes together, but this seemed to be done so professionally. Was this done specifically FOR your book or was this a snippet of another movie that just so happened to fit your theme? I'm totally intrigued now (much more-so than I have been of book trailers in the past).

Katie Alender · Sep 25, 2009

cscarlet said:
Katie, your book trailer is awesome. I've seen other book trailers where people splice movie scenes together, but this seemed to be done so professionally. Was this done specifically FOR your book or was this a snippet of another movie that just so happened to fit your theme? I'm totally intrigued now (much more-so than I have been of book trailers in the past).

Thanks! Yes, this was made specifically as a trailer for the book. We asked some friends for help and the stars aligned (except the part where the shoot went to 9 p.m. on Valentine's Day and none of the guys' wives would speak to them when they got home). The music was done by friends, as well.

maestrowork · Sep 25, 2009

Awesome trailer. I wish I had friends like yours. LOL.

Ryan David Jahn · Sep 26, 2009

If you're making your own trailer, or have friends producing a trailer, try googling "Kevin MacLeod." He produces royalty free music and simply asks for credit on whatever you produce. (He does suggest a five dollar donation, but it's not required.)

Alternatively, there are web sites from which you can download songs for $20 - $50 each, which download comes complete with a license to use the song in a production for noncommercial or commercial use. I can't think of them off the top of my head but googling "royalty free music" will probably get you to them. Several of the songs are pretty cheesy, but there are a surprising number -- usually classic music recorded on piano -- that are pretty nice and very usable for a trailer.

justinai · Sep 26, 2009

Thanks! That's really helpful. I'll check out those websites.

veinglory · Sep 26, 2009

It is certainly a rights issue. Youtube takes down soundtracks where the user did not have permission to use it.

maestrowork · Sep 26, 2009

That said yeah there are a lot of royalties-free music you can rent/buy at nominal fees, of different styles (cinematic, jazz, piano, business, etc.)

Michael Davis · Sep 29, 2009

DO a search of "Common Creative" music, especially "BY" category. It means you only need attribute the creator in your product. There are multiple categories of use (Commercial, BY, Derivatives, etc) and you need to read the conditions of each CC agreement carefully.

If you check out the book videos on my site (Davisstories.com), both use creative common music under a "by" agreement (I must attribute to the author.)

There are tons of sites that offer CC music free of charge with no royal. Just do a search. Took me almost two days to search through the thousands of available songs to find ones that went with my themes and were CC-BY.

Mr Flibble · Sep 29, 2009

Oh what perfect timing!

And yeah, I wish I had friends like your Katie - that's a fabulous trailer

MichStephens · Sep 29, 2009

maestrowork said:
Awesome trailer. I wish I had friends like yours. LOL.

Me too! That trailer was great.

Kathleen42 · Sep 29, 2009

iStockphoto.com has recently expanded to offer royalty free songs. It's mostly just background music but I've used it in presentations for work. Their stock photography is also quite inexpensive (copmared to other stock companies).

Book Trailer Music

justinai

SHAZAM!!

Katie Alender

justinai

SHAZAM!!

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

cscarlet

AW = Procrastination.

Katie Alender

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Ryan David Jahn

justinai

SHAZAM!!

veinglory

volitare nequeo

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Michael Davis

Mr Flibble

They've been very bad, Mr Flibble

MichStephens

Kathleen42

crushing on fictional characters