Recording - January 2017 - 52

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sarily coming from a source-because the
word source was meant to be music that's playing from a radio or playing from a jukebox or
whatever-we call it source cues because that's
licensed music cues. We use a word called
scourse sometimes, and what that means is
your source cue is going to play over a scene
[like a score might be used]. Let's say there's a
montage with no dialogue; we'll call that a
scource cue, and that means that it's gonna be
pretty much scoring the scene, but as a
licensed track. Does that answer the question?
Does that make sense to you guys?
Frank: Well, basically, if I call you, I'm not
quite sure. A vocal cue and an instrument cue
are different than a score cue. And I normally
don't go out to license a score cue for the type
of work that we do.
I would know what you're talking about, and Bob
would know what you're talking about, but somebody who's not in the business...
Frank: So basically, if somebody says, "We
have a cue," it means that they've got a spot
that they need to license the music for.
How about in your world, Bob? As somebody who
pitches both instrumentals and songs, what do
you call a song? What do you call a cue? What do
you call an instrumental track? How do you
define those things?
Bob: Well, as Frank was saying, cue relates to
all of them-it's synonymous. One of the
things I love when we are approached by
supervisors is when they're clear as to whether
they're looking for a song or an instrumental.

"There are always a couple extra ways
to make some money with your
music."
-Michael Laskow
I'll get things that say, "Hey, we need a cue that
sounds like the Black Keys," and I'll go, "Well,
is that a vocal, or is that an instrumental?" Generally, we'll send both if we have them; that
way, when it gets there they can figure it out
for themselves.
Both versions of the same thing?
Bob: Exactly. We hedge our bets. We've
learned.
We find that when writing the TAXI listings,
Frank sends me an email and says, "I need a
song." And his briefs, as they're called in the
industry- kinda like a TAXI listing, but in the
industry they're called a brief-his stuff is very
articulate, which is why I've got both of these
52

guys here, because they explain things fully.
Bob: And they can also be really loose. I'll get
less than a sentence, a cryptic text from an
iPhone. Then our job-I know you're going to
be getting into this later-is to mind-read sort
of what the thought process is. Other people
are very succinct. You know, "We need this."
"We need this." "We need a certain BPM." I
mean, it gets really detailed.
Frank is that kind of guy.
Frank: Let me quickly explain the types of
cues. So basically, if somebody sends you a
request form and they say that they want to
use a BV, if they didn't write it all out, what
they're talking about is that a BV is a
Background Vocal cue; they're gonna use your
lyrics. Then you've got a BI, or a Background
Instrumental cue, [meaning] they probably just
want your instrumental. You've got a VV, a
Visual Vocal, which means somebody's actually
going to sing your song, or sing along with
your song. And then you've got a VI, for Visual
Instrumental, which means somebody might be
miming to your song, performing your song.
Then you've got your Main Title Cue, and
you've got the End-Credit cue. But those are
pretty much the four standards: BV, BI, VV,
and VI. Those go out every day, and at least
they'll [the music supervisors] let you know
how they intend to use your music.
So, at TAXI, we actually differentiate in the listings for the benefit of those who are not so
advanced yet. It will say Instrumental Cue, which
means that it's probably 60 seconds to roughly
two minutes long, and it's instrumental, and it
has a little different way that it's constructed.
The form is not like a typical song, where it's got
an intro and a verse, or a bridge and a chorus. It
generally has an A section, maybe and A and a B
section. So we call that an Instrumental Cue. An
Instrumental may be something that's more akin
to a song in it's form, but with the vocal stripped
out and maybe a little light melody in to make it
sound less like a rhythm track. So that's our
world.
So let's move on to publishing, because people
call practically every day of the year and say, "I'm
published by ASCAP," or "I'm published by BMI."
BMI and ASCAP are not publishers, and we'll get
into what they are. Can you define what a publisher is-because you are one?
Bob: Sure. A publisher is someone who represents writers, musicians, and artists. They sign
an artist and some of their music-not necessarily all of the artist's music, but some of their
music. They represent that music to their
clients-film, television, advertising, trailer
houses, whoever they're doing business with.
In representing that music, they basically... It's
a pretty deep situation now, so we won't get
too far into it, but they register the songs with
BMI, ASCAP, or SESAC on behalf of the writ-

ers, and then they represent that music to
their client. So if someone's looking for a Black
Keys, or looking for something like Hans Zimmer-looking for something in a particular
style-the publisher will send the music that
they feel is appropriate to the client, and they
negotiate the fees on behalf of the writers.
Like I said, they make sure that the music is
registered with the PROs so that the writers
will get their performance income after the
music is performed. They will also make sure
the cue sheets are done appropriately, because
cue sheets get screwed up. Humans are doing
cue sheets. And then they also have to follow
up with the PROs nine months later to make
sure they're actually paying the writers.
Let's talk about cue sheets, Frank. Every piece of
music that goes in a show lands on a cue sheet.
Tell them what it is, who fills it out, what information might be on there.
Frank: Our music editor pretty much sticks in
each cue [in the edited show], and each cue has
its little cue number, and they have the in-and-

"When you write enough music, keep
a spreadsheet with your titles; who
you sent them to, who signed the
track, and be very methodical with
that."
-Bob Mair
out time, and the length of time that we've
used it for, the type of use that it was [BV, BI,
VV, or VI], and then those cue sheets get submitted to the PROs, the performing
rights-societies or organizations. And then
they calculate royalties. And how they do that
is just a mystery to everybody. And then, after
it goes through that whole thing, you get a
check in the mail. And if the cue sheet isn't
submitted, you don't get a check in the mail for
that placement or use.
How often do cue sheets not get filled out, or not
get filled out properly?
Frank: There are a lot of times, man, where
people have come back to me and they're like,
"Hey, I just contacted ASCAP and they said
they didn't get a cue sheet for this thing. We
worked on that six months ago." And then I
contact the music editor that I worked with,
and they are like, "Oh, I thought you guys submit the cue sheets." And then they contact the
producer, and they're like, "Didn't you?" And
I'm like, "The producer doesn't do cue sheets!"
And a lot of times it's miscommunication, you
know? Sometimes when people are new on the
gig, it doesn't mean that they don't know how
to do their job; it just means that they don't
know every single aspect of their job. So if a
dude has only done two films, he might not get
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - January 2017