What is the most a movie has ever paid to license a song?
A good soundtrack is vital to the success or failure of a film. They say the line between different genres and styles of filmmaking are thin, so much so that just the quality of the soundtrack can make us look at a picture differently. One of the best examples of this is The Truman Show, as while we consider Jim Carrey a comedy genius, that film could have been something totally different.
When you actually consider the premise of The Truman Show, the idea behind the film is actually pretty terrifying. A man finds out that his life has been one big lie, and he is in a huge simulation, watched by those who make up a world alien to him for their own bemusement. If you change the music in that movie, you go from having a jovial comedy to something truly terrifying.
David Lynch very much understood how important good music could be to a good film. He used a combination of songs, ones that were only audible to us, the audience, and those that existed within the world of his films. They all contributed towards the creation of some of the greatest pictures ever made, stories that feel layered and packed with meaning.
“Someone might say, I don’t understand music; but most people experience music emotionally and would agree that music is an abstraction,” Lynch once said, “You don’t need to put music into words right away—you just listen.”
Many different filmmakers and actors also understand just how important it is to get the right music for their picture. One of these was Jack Black, who knew that for his rock-centric flick, School of Rock, he knew how important it was to get a compilation of the best rock songs ever written. While most artists were willing to provide their songs, he had to beg Led Zeppelin to let him use ‘Immigrant Song’, and recorded a video on stage after shooting the film, telling them how much he needed the song in the movie.
“Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, the Gods of rock,” he began, “The greatest rock band of all time. We need your song, man. We need the ‘Immigrant Song’.” Led Zeppelin eventually gave the song to Black, and for not too unreasonable a price tag, either. It begs the question: What is the most money that a movie has paid to license a song?
So, what’s the most a movie has paid for a song?
To give you some perspective, licensing a song usually costs around $20,000 to $60,000. It all comes down to how much the song is going to be used in the film, as well as what the song actually is. It won’t surprise you to hear that some artists charge more than others; however, none charged more than AC/DC did in 1999 when they licensed their song to Varsity Blues.
The band’s hit song ‘Thunderstruck’ was used in the movie Varsity Blues, and with it came a hefty price tag. The total sale came to $500,000, so AC/DC made a pretty penny out of letting the film use their music.
This is very different to 1986, when the band agreed to write a whole musical score for Stephen King and his film Maximum Overdrive. “It was an interesting thing,” said Brian Johnson when discussing making music for the film. “It was the first time I’ve been involved in anything like that. The lads said it was a bit like movie-making because they had to be watching the clips.”
