All right, this isn't your usual how do I shoot it topic.

I need to know where to get the legal papers to do this. I have a crew release form, I can get a talent release form, but how do I go about getting a form that says I can use these guys's music?


It's a small band called I Me Mine, and they are really good, so I want to get them before they get famous (because I think they will).

Does anyone know what should be included in a document or have a sample document?

EDIT: I neglected to mention no one is getting paid. The band has already said they are interested in making the video with me, I just need to make sure they can't come back and get mad at me.

You really just need a music copyright release form...here is a decent example of one, (of course it will need to be modified slightly to fit the occasion)

http://www.extremefilmmaker.com/161Forms161/ExampleMusicRelease.pdf

Your awesome Brain! Thanks so much for finding that!

check out the band at www.myspace.com/imemineband

Ok, I realize how an absurdly bad question this is, but I'm going to ask it any way:

How much should I charge?

I'm going to be using 3 cameras, so that's about . . . 5 tapes? round that off to $30.

Then film time will take probably a whole day, so that's . . . $50?

Then I got my crew, and they will want to be fed. I will have 5 on my crew, and then I should prbably feed the band as well, so that makes a total of 12 people, if I just take them all to subway or get pizzas . . . i can get away with $25. And they will want something to drink, i'll probablhy jsut get bottled water, so tag on $6.

Then, if I want to make any profit off of this at all, I want to tag on maybe $50. The crew knows the food is their pay, so it's no problem there.

For a grand total, that's $161.

This is my first time doing a music video (they like my other work, too, so they wanted me to do it). So I don't want to over charge. I also have to take into account editing time. I'm pretty good friends with these guys, so I want to cut them a deal too.
Am I missing any costs/ overcharging anywhere? Should I round it off to $200?

Any other thoughts and opinions?

Wow. I charge 600-900 for a music video, even more depending on what they want. And that's with one camera and one other person helping me.

I don't know how old you are or how serious you are about this venture but don't short-change yourself like that. $200 for a music video with 3 cameras, a crew...? If they like your work and are confident in your abilities, you should be charging at least twice that.

I'm 21, lol, I just haven't done a music video before.

Is that how much you charged for your first music video?

If this is your first video or these are your friends then it should be a learning experience for you and a lot of pressure will be taken away buy keeping the charge to cost.

But once you have a few projects under your belt and a solid portfolio of work then a good music video costs good money. I'm really surprised by Funk's really low charge, considering the amount of very polished work he has to show! A very cheap underground video would be $1500 plus budget. But I guess that depends where you live and what the market demands. In the Bay Area where I live there are thousands of underground bands and labels so 3000-5000 (fee and budget) for a video isn't out of the question considering rent on a 2 bedroom apartment is $1600! In a pro situation like an MTV video I think the director gets a standard 10% of budget and some of those videos cost more than a house!

The problem with underground Music videos is your price can rarely be set in stone because every band has differant resources, most don't even have labels footing the bill. For me if i like the music and have a clear idea then I charge less if I hate the music I make an absurd quote and see if they bite.

But my advice Forsaken would be to just do the video for cost. It will build the reel and keep the band off your ass demanding some masterpiece. We all have to pay some dues.

Here are some examples of music videos I made, the first was for cost and got me the second one which was not!:

http://www.redkingindependent.com/buyproduct.html

http://www.redkingindependent.com/transparent.html

thanks redking, that was really helpful to see your videos.

Since these guys are friends and its my first one, I'll just charge them cost. Hopefully, they'll refer me to other bands.

I agree with Redking. Since my first music video there's now a kind of referral system--any band that refers another band that invests in a music video gets to do theirs at a reduced price, or even at cost, since I view most of these experiences as learning opportunities.

One advantage is that it keeps the venture competitive but music video production is very much a fringe business, even at the professional level.