Music licence and synchronisation agreement template
A rights holder lets someone use a recording or composition in a video or event: rights held, scope, fee and credit. A sample contract you can read in full, edit in QuoteBill and sign online with a secure link.
Sample — review with a lawyer · Simple electronic signature with an audit trail
Who it is for
For a musician, label or publisher licensing a track, and for a video maker, podcaster, event organiser or business that needs the right to use that music, with media, territory and term set out.
Music rights are split between the composition and the recording and often held by several people, and collecting-society rules and fees differ by country; check who controls which right.
What it covers
14 clauses, in this order. Each one is in the sample text below, and you can edit, remove or add clauses before you send.
1. Purpose
What the agreement is for: the Licensor lets the Licensee use the music below in the production below.
2. The music
Blanks for the title and version, the composers, writers and publishers, and the performers and producers of the recording. A blank says whether the composition, the recording or both are covered.
3. Rights the Licensor holds
The Licensor says which rights it controls and in what share. If it holds only part, such as the recording but not the composition, it says so first and the Licensee gets the rest elsewhere. It holds the consent it needs.
4. The production
A blank describes the video, film, podcast, event or game, its length and where it is shown, and how and for how long the music appears in it.
5. Grant of licence
Blanks for exclusive or non-exclusive, media, territory, term and versions. A non-transferable licence to synchronise the music with the images and to copy, distribute and show the production; other uses need a new licence.
6. Edits and limits on use
Cutting to length, fades and mixing with speech are allowed. No change of melody or words, remix, cover, political or parody use, suggested endorsement or unlawful use without the Licensor’s agreement.
7. Public performance and collecting societies
The licence covers use in the production. Public performance and broadcast may need separate society licences, which the Licensee gets as the law requires unless a blank says otherwise. Legal rights of societies and authors stay.
8. Fee and payment
The fee comes from the price schedule or a blank (a fee or no fee). The licence starts when the fee is paid in full. A fee for any further use is agreed before it begins.
9. Credit
Where credits are customary, the music is credited with the wording in a blank, in the end credits or the description. A missing credit is corrected as soon as it is noticed.
10. Content claims and platforms
The Licensee may upload to the named platforms. The Licensor does not register the production with automatic content-identification systems and withdraws a claim on a licensed use within a set number of days.
11. Ownership and delivery
The music and its rights stay with the Licensor and the other rights holders; the Licensee does not claim or register it. The production belongs to the Licensee. Audio files are delivered in a format and by a method set in blanks.
12. Warranties and liability
The Licensor says it holds the rights it described and knows of no infringement. The Licensee answers for the rest of the production and other licences it needs. Liability is capped by a blank, with the legal exceptions.
13. Term and termination
The licence lasts for the term in the grant. A serious breach not put right in time allows termination. A blank decides whether productions already released may stay online or on show afterwards.
14. Governing law and disputes
The law you name applies. The sides first try to settle a dispute in good faith, and otherwise the courts you name decide.
A price schedule is optional: add one if you want the amounts in a table, or write the agreed amount into the payment clause.
The sample text
The whole sample, as QuoteBill starts it. Text in double square brackets, like [[10]], is a blank to fill in or check. A figure or time such as [[10]] that you leave as it is is used as shown when you send; a blank that needs your own words must be filled first. The clause text is written in English, Korean, Japanese and German; in other languages a contract starts in English for you to translate.
Read the sample text
Music Licence and Synchronisation Agreement
Parties: Licensor · Licensee
1. Purpose
This agreement sets out the terms on which the Licensor allows the Licensee to use the music described below in the production described below.
2. The music
The music covered is the following (the “Music”):
Title and version: [[Title and version, e.g. the full track or a named edit]]
Composers, writers and publishers: [[Names]]
Performers and producers of the recording: [[Names]]
The licence covers [[the composition / the recording / both the composition and the recording]]. Reference numbers, where there are any, such as ISRC or ISWC: [[Reference numbers / none]]
3. Rights the Licensor holds
The Licensor states which rights in the Music it controls and in what share: [[the composition and the recording, in full / the composition only / the recording only / a part, e.g. 50%]]. Where it controls only a part, for example the recording but not the composition, it tells the Licensee so in writing or in electronic form before the Licensee relies on this agreement, and the Licensee obtains the other rights from their holders.
The Licensor holds the consent of the performers, producers and other rights holders that it needs in order to grant this licence.
4. The production
The Licensee uses the Music in the following production or event (the “Production”): [[Describe the production: title, kind (for example a promotional video, a film, a podcast, a live event or a game), length and where it is shown]].
The Music appears in the Production as [[background music / theme music / a featured performance]] for [[the length of use, e.g. up to 60 seconds / the full track]].
5. Grant of licence
The Licensor grants the Licensee a [[non-exclusive / exclusive]], non-transferable licence to record the Music in time with the images of the Production (synchronisation) and to copy, distribute and show the Production with the Music in it, within these limits:
Media: [[Media, e.g. online video platforms, the Licensee’s website, social media, live screening]]
Territory: [[Territory, e.g. worldwide]]
Term: [[Term, e.g. 3 years from the date of this agreement / without a time limit]]
Productions and versions: [[the Production and its shorter edits / one version only]]
A use outside these limits, or in another production, needs a new licence.
6. Edits and limits on use
The Licensee may cut the Music to length, fade it in and out and mix it with speech and sound effects. Unless the Licensor agrees in writing or in electronic form, it does not change the melody, harmony or lyrics, make a remix or a cover, put new words to the Music, use it for a political message or a parody, use it in a way that suggests that the performers or writers endorse a product or a cause, or use it in a way that is unlawful, defamatory or obscene.
Exceptions agreed: [[none / the exceptions agreed]]
7. Public performance and collecting societies
This licence covers the use of the Music in the Production as set out in this agreement. The public performance, broadcast and other communication of the Production to the public may in addition need licences from collecting societies or similar bodies. The Licensee obtains and pays for those as the law that applies requires, unless this agreement says otherwise: [[none / the arrangement agreed]].
The Licensor tells the Licensee in advance if the Music is registered with a collecting society and which rights have been given to it. Nothing in this agreement affects rights that the law places with a collecting society, or remuneration that the law gives to authors and performers.
8. Fee and payment
The Licensee pays the fee shown in the price schedule of this contract or, if there is none, [[the agreed licence fee or “no fee”]], on the payment terms stated in this contract. The licence starts when the fee has been paid in full or, if there is no fee, on the effective date. A fee for any extension or further use is agreed before that use begins.
9. Credit
The Licensee credits the Music as [[the credit wording, e.g. “Title, written by …, performed by …, used with permission” / no credit required]] in the end credits or in the description of the Production, where credits are customary. If a credit is missing, the Licensee puts this right as soon as it learns of it.
10. Content claims and platforms
The Licensee may upload the Production to the platforms named under Grant of licence. The Licensor does not register the Production, or the recording as it appears in the Production, with automated content-identification systems, and it withdraws any claim made about a use covered by this licence within [[5]] business days of being told. On request the Licensor confirms to the platform that the use is licensed, and the Licensee keeps a copy of this agreement for that purpose.
11. Ownership and delivery
The Music and all rights in it stay with the Licensor and the other rights holders. The Licensee acquires only the licence that this agreement grants and does not claim rights in the Music or register it with a collecting society or an identification system as its own. The Production, apart from the Music, belongs to the Licensee.
The Licensor delivers the Music as audio files in [[the agreed format]] by [[download link / e-mail]] within [[3]] days of the date of this agreement or, where a fee is due, of its payment.
12. Warranties and liability
The Licensor states that it holds the rights described under Rights the Licensor holds, that it may grant this licence and that, to its knowledge, the Music used as licensed does not infringe the rights of others. The Licensee is responsible for the rest of the Production and for any licence that its use of the Music needs beyond this agreement.
Except for intent, gross negligence, personal injury, a breach of the statement on rights or where the law does not allow a limitation, each party’s total liability under this agreement is limited to [[the licence fee paid or payable / a fixed amount]].
13. Term and termination
The licence lasts for the term stated under Grant of licence. Either party may terminate it by notice in writing or in electronic form if the other party seriously breaches this agreement and does not put this right within [[14]] days of being asked to.
When the licence ends, the Licensee makes no new production and no new use of the Music. Productions that were finished and released before the end may continue to be shown or stay online: [[without a time limit / until the end of the term of the licence / not at all, and the Licensee removes them within 30 days]].
14. Governing law and disputes
This agreement is governed by the law stated under Governing law. The parties will first try to settle any dispute in good faith. Otherwise the courts stated under Jurisdiction decide, unless mandatory law provides otherwise.
Payment terms
[[When and how the licence fee is paid, if any, e.g. within 14 days of receiving the invoice, by bank transfer]]
Governing law
[[Country or state whose law applies]]
Jurisdiction
[[Courts that decide disputes, e.g. the courts of your city]]
How to use it
Choose the template
Press the button to use this template. If you are not signed in, you first sign in or sign up for free and then come straight back to it.
Start a draft
The new-contract page opens with this template marked. Press its card to create a draft. Your company details fill in Party A, and you fill in the blanks, the other party and, where the template has one, the price schedule.
Send it for signature
You sign first, then send each signer a secure link and, by another route, an access code. Signers need no account.
Next steps
Your client opens the link on any device and needs no account. See what the signing looks like on the E-Contracts page, and read which kind of electronic signature is enough for which document.
Already signed? Make the invoice from the signed contract: the parties and the price lines carry over, in full or for a deposit. The guide on turning a quotation into an invoice shows how to review the new draft, its dates and the PDF.
What it is, and what it is not
QuoteBill creates a simple electronic signature with an audit trail. In the EU, the UK, the US and Korea a signature is not denied legal effect only because it is electronic, and in Japan most contracts need no particular form at all. What a simple electronic signature proves in a dispute depends on the evidence behind it, and some documents need another form.
It is not a qualified or advanced electronic signature, and QuoteBill does not verify who the signers are. It records the use of the link and access code you delivered, so anyone who has both can sign. The signature certificate lists every link issued and, for each action by the sender or a signer, its IP address and browser where they could be read.
Some documents need another form. Wills, many real-estate transfers, guarantees and some employment documents must, in some countries, be handwritten, notarised or signed with a qualified signature. The templates are samples, not legal advice: review them with a lawyer.
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