What does it mean to clear a song?

Clearing a song means getting written permission from everyone who controls it (the master recording side, label or artist, and the composition side, publishers) for your specific use, territory, and term, at an agreed fee. Until both sides have signed, the song is not cleared.

Can I start using the song while the clearance is being negotiated?

In production you can edit with it, but you cannot release, broadcast, or run paid media until both licenses are signed. Locking a final cut to an uncleared song is the single most expensive mistake buyers make, because it destroys your negotiating position.

Who do I contact to clear a song?

For the master, the record label's sync/licensing department (or the artist's team if independent). For the publishing, each publisher listed on the composition. A song can have one publisher or eight; you need approval from every controlling party.

How much does clearance cost on top of the license fee?

If you do it yourself, your cost is time, often 10 to 40 emails and several weeks. For a single track, Music Oracle offers fixed Single Track Clearance tiers from €300 (Light) to €600 (Complex): I handle rights holder outreach and negotiation, 50% to start and 50% when the deal is confirmed. The sync license fees themselves still go to the rights holders, not the supervisor.

What happens if one rights holder says no?

The song is dead for your use. One controlling party's refusal blocks the whole clearance. That's why professionals never lock a cut to a single uncleared song, and always keep at least one cleared or clearable alternative alive.

Licensing Basics

How to Clear a Song for a Film or Commercial (Step by Step)

The exact clearance process a music supervisor follows: identify both rights holders, define the use, request quotes, negotiate, and paper the deal, without blowing your deadline.

By Renato Horvath•July 2, 2026•10 min read

A producer on the phone in a production office at night, a clearance checklist and shot list spread on the desk

The short answer

Most failed clearances don't fail on money. They fail because someone fell in love with a song, locked the edit around it, and only then found out who actually controls it. By that point the price has gone up, the timeline has gone sideways, and there is no leverage left.

Here is the process that avoids that: the same sequence a working music supervisor runs on every track, whether it's a €800 festival license or a six-figure commercial. Seven steps, in the order that protects your budget and your air date.

Step 1: Pin the exact recording, not just "the song"

"Moon River" is not a clearance target. Which "Moon River"? The Audrey Hepburn original, the Frank Ocean cover, an orchestral re-record? Each has different rights holders and a completely different price.

Get the exact recording's ISRC (the recording's unique ID, visible in Spotify's credits or via lookup tools). This matters more than people think: remasters and re-releases often carry different ISRCs than the original, and clearance requests that reference the wrong recording bounce around for weeks.

If any version of the composition will do (for example, you plan to re-record), that changes the entire deal structure (you may only need the publishing side). Decide this now, not after quotes come in.

Step 2: Identify both sides: master and publishing

Every commercial recording has two rights stacks:

Master: the recording itself. Controlled by a label, a distributor, or the artist.
Publishing: the underlying composition. Controlled by one or more music publishers on behalf of the songwriters.

You need written permission from both, and the publishing side is routinely split across multiple publishers, each of whom can veto the deal. A well-known pop song we recently checked had one label on the master and seven distinct publishers on the composition, across three territories.

This is the research step where most DIY clearances go wrong, because credits databases are incomplete and splits change hands. (It's also exactly what the free tool does in seconds; more on that below.) For the full explanation of the two-sided structure, see who you actually pay to license a song.

Step 3: Define your use precisely, before you ask anyone anything

Rights holders can't quote "we want to use your song." They quote a specific use. Write down, in one paragraph:

Project type: feature film, short, documentary, TV commercial, online campaign
How the song is used: background, featured moment, opening/closing titles, full or partial; roughly how many seconds
Media: theatrical, broadcast TV, streaming/VOD, paid social, organic web
Territory: one country, Europe, worldwide
Term: one year, five years, in perpetuity
Budget context: production budget or media spend (they will ask)

This paragraph is your quote request. The tighter it is, the faster and cheaper the answer. Every vague request triggers a round-trip of clarifying emails, and every round-trip costs you a week.

Step 4: Budget both sides at parity (the MFN reality)

Most split-rights deals include a Most Favored Nations clause: master and publishing agree to be paid equally. If the label quotes €10,000, expect the publishing side to cost €10,000 too: €20,000 total, not €10,000.

So when you set the music budget, think in terms of the total for both sides, and know your walk-away number before the first email goes out. For realistic ranges by use type, see the 2026 sync fee guide.

Step 5: Request quotes from everyone, at the same time

Send your one-paragraph use definition to the master side and every publisher simultaneously, not sequentially. Clearance timelines are dominated by waiting; parallel requests are the single biggest time saver available to you.

What to include in the email:

The exact recording (title, artist, ISRC)
Your use paragraph from Step 3
Your production company and the project's distribution plan
Your deadline (a real one, stated plainly)
A request for their quote and confirmation that they control the rights for your territory

That last point matters: publishers administer different territories, and the party who controls the US may not control Germany. Ask explicitly.

Step 6: Negotiate from a starting point, not from hope

Quotes for the same use of the same song can vary enormously depending on how you frame the request and what the rights holder assumes about your budget. Three rules from the negotiating side:

Never reveal your maximum. State the use honestly; anchor with a number below your ceiling.
Use scope as currency. Can't meet the price? Offer a shorter term, fewer media, a smaller territory, and structure options to expand later at pre-agreed rates.
Know the market number before you open. If you don't know whether €15,000 is generous or absurd for your use, you're negotiating blind. An independent estimate of where an experienced buyer would open changes the entire conversation.

Remember MFN cuts both ways: a discount you win on one side usually has to be offered to the other, but a high quote on one side also tends to pull the other up. Negotiate both in view of each other.

Step 7: Paper it, and check five clauses before signing

The deal isn't done at "yes." It's done when both licenses are signed. Before you sign, verify:

Grant of rights matches your actual use paragraph (media, territory, term, exclusivity)
The recording and composition are correctly identified (title, artists, ISRC/ISWC)
Options: if you might need broader rights later (more territories, longer term), lock the option price now
Credit obligations: some licenses require on-screen credit in a specific form
Payment terms: when fees are due and to whom (often two separate invoices)

Keep the signed licenses with the project's delivery materials. Distributors, broadcasters, and E&O insurers will ask for them.

The failure modes to avoid

Locking the cut to an uncleared song. Your leverage evaporates the moment the rights holder knows you can't re-edit.
Starting three weeks before air date. Split-rights clearances routinely take 4–8 weeks. Start when the shortlist forms, not when the edit locks.
Clearing one side and assuming the other. One signed license is worth nothing. Both or neither.
No alternative. Keep at least one clearable backup track alive until the ink is dry.

Where the tool fits

Steps 1, 2, and part of 6 are exactly what Music Oracle automates: paste a track, and it identifies the master and publishing rights holders, flags clearance complexity, and gives you a fee estimate for your use and territory, so you walk into Step 5 knowing who to email and roughly what the number should be.

Already locked on one song? Single Track Clearance handles the whole sequence for a fixed fee (from €300): rights holder emails, quotes, negotiation, and deal coordination. Book a Quick Check (€150) first if you still need to confirm complexity; the fee credits toward clearance if you proceed within 60 days. For a full playlist or project, see music supervision.

Frequently asked questions

What does it mean to clear a song?: Clearing a song means getting written permission from everyone who controls it (the master recording side, label or artist, and the composition side, publishers) for your specific use, territory, and term, at an agreed fee. Until both sides have signed, the song is not cleared.
Can I start using the song while the clearance is being negotiated?: In production you can edit with it, but you cannot release, broadcast, or run paid media until both licenses are signed. Locking a final cut to an uncleared song is the single most expensive mistake buyers make, because it destroys your negotiating position.
Who do I contact to clear a song?: For the master, the record label's sync/licensing department (or the artist's team if independent). For the publishing, each publisher listed on the composition. A song can have one publisher or eight; you need approval from every controlling party.
How much does clearance cost on top of the license fee?: If you do it yourself, your cost is time, often 10 to 40 emails and several weeks. For a single track, Music Oracle offers fixed Single Track Clearance tiers from €300 (Light) to €600 (Complex): I handle rights holder outreach and negotiation, 50% to start and 50% when the deal is confirmed. The sync license fees themselves still go to the rights holders, not the supervisor.
What happens if one rights holder says no?: The song is dead for your use. One controlling party's refusal blocks the whole clearance. That's why professionals never lock a cut to a single uncleared song, and always keep at least one cleared or clearable alternative alive.

Renato Horvath

Music supervisor and licensing expert with over a decade of experience in film, advertising, and content production. Founder of Eastaste (2012) and member of the UK & European Guild of Music Supervisors.

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