Hi all! I’m a media composer, frequently working on short films, documentaries, and commercial projects. I typically deliver the full master mix, stems, and cue sheets. Sometimes a protools session for the re-recording mixer.
But I recently had a project (small independent production) where production company is asking for my DAW session, midi files, and most interesteingly they are asking for license agreements for all of the sample libraries used in the score.
I’ve not heard of this before. I might expect this from a large movie studio but not an indie studio. Is this industry standard?
A bit bizarre. I would inform them outright that you have never been asked for these details before, and then ask them for an explanation for the question. If they balk it might be a sign of foreboding. In a more drastic sense, can you fire the client. (I have from time to time in my career…with no remorse…)
Hey Charles! Good to hear from you. Fortunately, in this case, the project is complete and he’s asking after the fact. It’s not written in our agreement and the client has been a pleasure to work with so far. I think he asked either because his lawyer for the film told him or (more likely) ChatGPT. But it made me curious if this is standard practice?