When you begin a new production, music is an important element. You have many categories to choose from: classical, jazz, Americana, ethnic and well-known artists. There are no limitations in style or composition to your song montage. Let's hope that the composer you've hired understands your ideas and can write the music you want. Otherwise, there are plenty of qualified music supervisors ready to assist you. If your song montage budget is low, you may want to consider a production music library.
Copyright Law
It is important to remember that all music is subject to copyright protection. The copyright law makes sure that the owner of a song receives some sort of monetary compensation. You need to know what types of licenses are required under different situations. You don't need a staff to manage and administrate copyrights if you use a music library. All library music is already cataloged and priced.
Synchornization Rights
Synchronization rights pertain to recording of music on tape or film in relation with a visual image and audio track. If you are producing your song montage, you are responsible for obtaining the synchronization licenses. To get more information about your responsibilities, contact your attorney or music clearance service. If you are using a pre-existing recording, you need to get clearance from the company controlling the master.
Mood
Until you know what songs you're using, you cannot develop your music cue sheet. Music cue sheet must include the length of each song and song's use. You must have a clear idea of kind of mood you're trying to establish. If you're making a romantic love story, you may want to combine gentle sounds of Hawaiian guitar (ukulele) with "Just One Those Things" by Cole Porter. Another option is "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby" by Fats Waller in combination with Django Reinhard's guitar solos. John Cassavetes used "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby" in his 1976 film "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie" to reveal the inner life of his character Cosmo Vitelli.
Drama
The best choice for any drama is music by Nino Rota. He scored the films by Frederico Fellini, Luchino Visconti and Francis Ford Coppola's "Godfather" trilogy. You might want to use classical composers like Giacomo Puccini ("La Boheme," "Madame Butterfly" and "Turandot") and Giuseppe Verdi ("Aida") as well. Their tragic emotional operas will provide a great musical accompaniment to your dramatic climaxes.
Comedy
If you are making a comedy, the blues-rock genre is a good choice. The classic choice is a legendary British blues-rock band Savoy Brown. Woody Allen used the band's song "A Hard Way to Go" in "Annie Hall". Another choice is folk and country. The Coen brothers utilize this type of songs in their screwball comedies. For example, "The Big Lebowski" used the song by Bob Nolan, "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," performed by "Sons of the Pioneers."
