Making music. Part 1

I sent over a polite email to my musician for him to sign a composer contract for my musician to sign, allowing me to use the music he produced for my film. After reading the agreement, the musician responded and felt we needed to meet to discuss this contract as he had concerns, and therefore, we organised a Teams meeting for the following day.

The musician expressed the following concerns:

• The timing of sending this contract at this stage was considered unprofessional. He explained a contract is established at the beginning of a collaboration or the end.

• Issues with contract segments, specifically wavering any moral right for the music to be used within my project.

• He did not see the need to solidify our agreement with a contract, as email correspondence was proof of collaboration. In addition, he had negative experiences with contracts and thus was cautious about signing one.

I understood his concerns and explained that a contract would be evidence of permission to use the music he had created for my film concerning my module. I apologised to him if the timing of sending the contract appeared unprofessional; however, this was a new experience for me, collaborating with an individual of a different skill set, and I was still learning. I also explained that I wanted the contract to be signed at this stage because I only had three weeks until the deadline and wanted it to be off my “to-do list”.

Concerning the agreement, I attempted to reassure him by stating it was a contract from the University of South Wales film department, sent over to me by my lecturer and that its contents appeared to be standard. However, I would seek advice from my lecturer and, if possible, write a simple contract that permits me to use the music for my film and my film only. Despite my potential solution, I sensed the musician still had reservations about this agreement.

Although we communicated pleasantly and civilised during our meeting, there was some slight tension between us. His demeanour did not entirely convince me that this collaboration was working, nor did he feel comfortable signing the contract. I sent an email stating urgency to my lecturer concerning the music for my film; however, it was out of office hours, and I had nothing to do but wait until the following Monday.

While waiting for my lecturer's response, I couldn’t help but think about a comment from the musician. During our conversation, while I expressed disappointment in how we were not able to explore more creatively the direction of the music due to time restrictions, the musician stated that he was not entirely sure as to why I requested a musician as the music I wished to convey, I could either purchase a license online or due to its simplicity; I, who had no music experience, could make it. This lingering comment opened up the following question:

“Can I make the ambience music for the film?”