ASSIGNMENT B : Production Research

What factors make up the budget for a  radio advertisement campaign?

There are three factors that make up the budget for radio advertisement:

• Music Royalties: This is when you need to gain permission to use music made by someone else to avoid copyright. There are four categories, mechanical, performance, print and syntonisation. Mechanical the permission to reproduce and the royalties are paid to the artist, writer and publisher depending on the numbers sold. Performance gives the permission to broadcast/perform live, the royalties are paid to the artist, writer and published when the song's played/performed. Print is when the royalties are paid to the writer and publisher depending on the sales of sheet music. Lastly, synchronisation allows songs and/or music to be remade in various institutions.
• Voice over artist fees: This is the cost for using a voice over, it depends on if it's a celebrities voice or the amount of skin and experience they have. Some other things that affect the costs are where the voice over will be broadcasted and when.
• Traffic: This is how much the production costs depending on when it airs; if it is on during 'drive time' it will cost a lot more as there are more listeners therefore reaching a higher audience, whereas if it is at 'graveyard' time then it would be cheaper as less people would be listening.
• Production Facilities: This is where the commercial is produced and the facilities that will help it and put it at risk. For example, if produced at the radio station then there are trained copywriters to help, and a studio designated for production. However, the scripts copyright stays with the station, and there are risks of being fined if the production is watched. On the other hand, if the commercial is produced at a production house then there is the benefit of having a high quality advert produced, but there's the risk of having a bad advert due to the isolation of the house meaning that they wouldn't know the advert's demands and needs.

What is a music bed , and what are the three types?

A music bed is the music that plays in the background of the advert, under the dialogue. The three types are live music, library music and production music. Firstly, live music is when a song is recorded with the speech by using a live band/single musician. Library music is normally copyright free just like production music. Also, production music is done via a CD as it is created using softwares like Garage Band.

Why does it cost money to use a pop song in a radio advert? What type of license would you

need to apply for?

It costs money to use a pop song in a radio advert because you need permission as the song is covered by copyright. For radio advertisements, to be able to play a pop song you would need to obtain a synchronisation license because it allows songs and/or music to be reproduced in various institutions (including radio) as background music. 

What are the main differences between producing your radio advert using 

a)     production facilities available at the radio station itself ?

If you produce your advert at the radio station then they can help by providing a professional copywriter, licensing the music and helping with a voice over. However this means that the copyright for the script stays with the station, therefore if tried to be used somewhere else there's the risk of being sued. Also, many stations have a studio for production, however if asked to watch the process there's a risk of being charged as it's said that it is slowing down the production rate.

b)      an external production house ?

Some radio stations may be not have the facilities to help with production, therefore 'out of house' production may be more beneficial. Although, the risk of using an external production house is that the quality can be goo or awful. Also, another risk is that the house may be isolated from the station, and therefore not meeting the commercial's needs.