The document summarizes the process a radio commercial producer must follow when sourcing music for advertisements. They must consider the style and function of the music, and seek permission from copyright holders unless it is royalty-free. Producers can obtain licenses that allow unlimited use of production music in radio ads for an annual fee based on the radio station's audience size. Failing to follow copyright law or exceeding fair use could result in legal issues.

1. PR11: The Commercial Production Process
Lauren Allard
Music
In this report I will be explaining how a producer of radio commercials will source the music
that they use. I will be stating the considerations a producer needs to consider in terms of
style and function. I will also go into detail on why it is important for a producer to seek
permission to use the music they want in an advertisement. I will also be looking into some
of the key terms, those being Fair Use, Licensing, The 7-Second Rule and Strategies.
The Considerations
For a radio commercial the producer needs to consider the style of the commercial,
whether or not the advertisement would be formal/informal/pastiche/comic, all of these
styles are due to the meaning of the commercial and the content included. The producer
also has to consider the function, that meaning the main piece that will be played
throughout the advert, to emphasis the tone of the advertisement or if the music is to be
used as a tag or sting. For my radio commercial the style of the advert will be informal, since
the main reasoning for the advertisement is to inform the target audience of the upcoming
Bon Jovi UK Tour, before the tickets get released. The voiceover artists would be using an
informal tone to inform the audience and sell the product to the target audience.
The music used throughout the entire advert, will help to emphasis the tone to the advert
which helps to tell the audience the type of radio commercial that they are listening to. The
producer has to consider the style he/she is going to use for their advertisement, they will
have to look into what the client wants for their advert and the target audience the client
has set for the producer.
Seeking Permission
When it comes to creating a radio advertisement, it’s important for the producer to seek
permission for the music they will be using for their advertisement. Unless the music
included is from a Royalty Free Website, meaning there will be no copyright issues.
Copyright is the exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed
number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical
material. Copyright protects the creators work and stops others from using it without their
permission. Copyright protection happens automatically, which means that the creator of
the music doesn’t have to apply for it or pay a fee. Copyright protects the creator’s work by
stopping others from copying the work, distributing copies of it, whether free of charge or
for sale. Renting or lending copies of the work, performing and showing or playing the work
in public, making an adaptation of the work and also stops others putting the content on the
internet.
With the copyright protection, producers would have to seek permission from the
creator/holder of the musical content, to use this piece of music for their advertisement.
Otherwise the producer could face legal issues with ASA (Advertising Standards Authority)
due to copyright issues. There is a various amount of simple steps that the producer would
have to go through to require permission from the holder of the musical content for the
advertisement.
 Determine if permission for the music chosen is needed. – is the material protected
under the law, and would using the chosen material violate the law?
 Identify the owner (for our sake the owner of the music would be Island Records) –
Identifying the owner of the material is crucial to obtaining permission. A lot of these

2. PR11: The Commercial Production Process
Lauren Allard
pieces of material include a notice that would read something like “Copyright 2001,
Island Records”, which means that we would start by contacting the company that
holds the material.
 Identify the rights needed. – Each copyright owner controls a bundle of rights related
to the work, including the right to reproduce, distribute, and modify the work.
Besides identifying the type of intended use, the producer would need to figure out
some other details of their use of the material. Specifically, your permissions
agreement will need to deal with three common variables: exclusivity, term and
territory.
 Contact the owner and negotiate whether payment is required. – One issue that
producers have to face when it comes to seeking permission is whether or not they
will have to pay for the permission they are seeking. Sometimes, the owner of the
material will not require payment if the amount the producer wishes to use it is
small, or if the owner wishes to contribute to an educational or non-profit effort.
 And finally get the permission agreement in writing. – Relying on a spoken
agreement or understanding is almost always a mistake. The producer and the rights
owner may have misunderstood each other or remembered the terms of the
agreement differently. This can lead to the producer and the owner having disputes.
If the producer has to go to court to enforce their unwritten agreement, they’ll have
difficulty proving exactly what the terms are. Getting written permission agreements
are always best when it comes to copyright and using the owners material.
Fair Use
It is illegal to use copyrighted material when it exceeds what is called “Fair Use”. According
to the definition of fair use, if core components of the material are used, then fair use has
been exceeded. As a rule of thumb, it’s illegal to use music in a radio ad if you don’t have
authorization and the tune can be recognized.
The fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phono
records or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism,
comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use),
scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.
The Four Fair Use Factors:
1. Purpose and Character of Your Use
If you use another’s copyrighted work for the purpose of criticism, news reporting, or
commentary, this use will weigh in favour of fair use. Purposes such as these are often
considered “in the public interest” and are favoured by the courts over uses that merely
seek to profit from another’s work. When you put copyrighted material to new use, this
furthers the goal of copyright to “promote the progress of science and useful arts”.
In evaluating the purpose and character of your use, a court will look to whether the new
work you’ve created is “transformative” and adds a new meaning or message.
2. Nature of the Copyrighted Work
In examining this factor, a court will look to whether the material you have used is factual or
creative, and whether it is published or unpublished. Although non-fiction works such as
biographies and news articles are protected by copyright law, their factual nature means
that one may rely more heavily on these items and still enjoy the protections of fair use.
Unlike factual works, fictional works are typically given greater protection in a fair use

3. PR11: The Commercial Production Process
Lauren Allard
analysis. So, for example, taking newsworthy quotes from a research report is more likely to
be protected by fair use than quoting from a novel.
3. Amount and Substantially of the Portion Used
Unfortunately, there is no single guide that definitively states how much of a copyrighted
work you can use without copyright liability. Instead, courts look to how such excerpts were
used and that their relation was to the whole work. If the excerpt in question diminishes the
value of the original or embodies a substantial part of the efforts of the author, even an
excerpt may constitute an infringing use. If you limit your use of copyrighted text, video, or
other materials to only the portion that is necessary to accomplish your purpose or convey
your message, it will increase the likelihood that a court will find your use is a fair use.
4. The Effect of Your Use Upon the Potential Market for the Copyrighted Work
In examining the fourth factor, which courts tend to view as the most important factor, a
court will look to see how much the market value of the copyrighted work is affected by the
use in question. This factor will weigh in favour of the copyright holder if “Unrestricted and
widespread” use similar to the one in question would have a “Substantially adverse impact”
on the potential market for the work.
Although the copyright holder need not have established a market for the work beforehand,
he or she must demonstrate that the market is “traditional, reasonable, or likely to be
developed”
Licensing
It’s possible to obtain permission to use copyrighted music through a licencing agreement.
But you will actually need two licences. The first is from the party that owns the copyright
for the song and the second is from the party that owns the copyright for the recording.
The licence is for radio stations that make their own radio adverts and commercials. And
also the radio stations that commission radio producers to make adverts specifically for
them.
The license gives radio stations unlimited access to the production’s music. In return for an
annual licence fee you can:
 Use as much production music in as many radio adverts as you like
 Appoint third party producers to producer your adverts
Using production music in adverts could bring down your own music usage costs. Which
means that the producer wouldn’t need to pay as much or for the entire production
company to pre-clear adverts each time they are made.
The licence fees are based on the table below, which match a radio station’s total share
audience (TSA) against fee levels. The fees for 2016-2017 exclude VAT are being as follows:
 For a 0-100,000 or digital-only, TSA. The 2016-2017 base fee would be £3,264.20. A
split frequency 25% uplift* is +£816.05. And also sharing commercials 10% uplift is
+£326.42.
 For a 100,001 – 500,000 TSA. The base fee from 2016-2017 is £5,176.56. The split
frequency on a 25% uplift* is a +£1,294.14. And also sharing commercials 10% uplift
is +£517.66.
 For a 500,001 – 1,000,000 TSA. The base fee from 2016-2017 is £7,453.73. The split
frequency on a 25% uplift* is a +£1,863.43. And also sharing commercials 10% uplift
is +£745.37.

4. PR11: The Commercial Production Process
Lauren Allard
 For a 1,000,001 – 2,000,000 TSA. The base fee from £9,939.74. The split frequency
on a 25% uplift* is a +£2,484.18. And also sharing commercials 10% uplift is
+£993.67.
 For a 2,000,001-5,000,000 TSA. The base fee from £11,181.19. The split frequency on
a 25% uplift* is a +£2,795.30. And also sharing commercials 10% uplift is +£1,118.12.
 For a 5,000,001-10,000,000+ TSA. The base fee from £12,423.28. The split frequency
on a 25% uplift* is a +£3,105.82. And also sharing commercials 10% uplift is
+£1,241.33.
The 25 percent uplift applies to analogue stations on a split frequency.
The 10 percent uplift applies to any station that wishes to share adverts across its network
of stations. This uplift is paid by the stations that provide the adverts.
The 7-second rule
Many radio advertisers operate under something called the “7-second rule”, or the idea that
you can include any song in an ad as long as it plays for 7 seconds or less. From a legal
perspective, the 7-second rule comes from mythical rules. There is no legal basis for a 7-
second rule – any unauthorized inclusion of music from a copyrighted song violates
copyright law. Any un-edited sampling is illegal, but a lot of people don’t really care for
small names dropping free releases. The 7-second rule is a rule of thumb dealing with how
much is a “fair use” of copyrighted material, which usually deals with using it for educational
use or for criticism. Simple as the 7-second rule does not exist, even a small section of the
song can be classed as an illegaluse of the song. The owner of the song can take you to
court for using a few seconds of their song, if you have not gathered written permission for
the use of the track.
Strategies
Although you can’t skirt copyright law altogether, there are some strategies you can use to
minimize the need for expensive licensing. One option is to compose your own music and
have it performed by a hired musician. The other option is to purchase the copyright for the
song, but have it performed by someone other than the original artist. This would go down
as a cover song and there would be no copyright issues regarding the music.
Producers have to consider different strategies when it comes to to using music in their
radio advertisement, to make sure that they are not using the music illegally.
The main solution to dodging expensive licensing is to use the song that you are aiming to
use for the advertisement, but not have the actual artist perform it, use the same song and
tune but hire another musician to perform the song for the radio commercial.