I am a producer trying to find the rights to some low-key songs. Has anybody ever tried to find the rights to songs? If so please help me with the process. Thanks.

Is the band/artist signed to a label? If so, you have to get the rights from the label. If it's a larger label, you'll almost certainly have to pay, but if it's a smaller one they might be willing to work with you in order to promote the artist. You just have to convince them that the publicity would be worth it (which is generally hard with student films).

If the band/artist isn't signed, things are much easier - just get their permission.

I actually used to work at a music publishing company in the sync licensing department (the department at a music publishing company that grants permission for song usages such as student film use). And I also earned my bachelors in music industry. So I have a lot of information for you.

As Cinematical mentioned, it is much easier to get permission from an unsigned band. The first thing you need to know about music clearance is that their are two rights: synchronization and master use. Synchronization covers the songwriter(s) rights and master use covers the recorded master rights. If you are having a friend record the music for you but the song has already been published, you only need to get sync rights. You will always need to get sync rights.

If the band is signed, their record label and publisher information is available in the cd jacket. Sometimes the information is old, so you might have to search around for current information. I suggest first contacting the record label (or person/company that handles their permissions) for master use permission. Then ask the person you contact at the record label if they have the name of the publisher for the song. They often know the name as they have to pay mechanicals to that company. Sometimes their information is wrong and sometimes that department does not have that information. If the song is new or written by multiple songwriters, it can be a lot harder to get publisher information and therefore permission.

Once you have permission, you will most likely have to sign an agreement.

Another key thing is that with sync, there can be multiple writers and therefore multiple publishers. In that case you have to get permission from all publishers in order to use that music.

One problem that I have encountered at the publishing company is the student gave us a usage time but later changed that time and did not inform us. The publisher/label will probably ask you to give them final timings before signing an agreement, but if not and the timing has changed, do tell them.

Getting permission can take a day or it can take until eternity, so seek permission as soon as you possibly can to make it by deadline.

If you get confused or need help, please ask. My email is songclearance@gmail.com If you would like me to handle permissions for you, let me know. I am trying to start my own music clearance company, not for profit but just for fun (long story short, I moved away from music industry but would enjoy dabbling in it in my spare time). Since I don't have any overhead at the moment, I won't charge you labor, just any expenses I incur will be passed on to you (shouldn't be much, might include postage, envelope and paper/ink cost, if that).