The Rights Workshop is a music supervision group based in the Presidio Film Center in San Francisco, California. Formed in 2002 by Billboard Award-winning producer, author and former ESPN Music Director

Brooke Wentz Brooke Wentz is an American record producer and music director. She has served as a music director for ESPN. She was also the recipient of the Billboard Music Award for the best world music album in 1994, ''Global Meditation - Authentic Music from ...

,
The Rights Workshop programs music and negotiates clearances and licensing rights for producers and directors of independent film, television, advertising, new media, games, apps, as well as services for corporate marketing. In 2009, The Rights Workshop began representing composers under the label Salty Sounds. Other ventures include Synklynk, a tool to track music downloads.

History

The company's first client was the mediation of licensing rights for the film ''Scouts Honor'' which won three awards at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

. The following year, advertising agencies and film makers began using the Rights Workshop for clearance of

music rights Music licensing is the licensed use of copyrighted music. Music licensing is intended to ensure that the owners of copyrights on musical works are compensated for certain uses of their work. A purchaser has limited rights to use the work without ...

Film credits

Film credits include: Dolores Last Chance U Bill Cunningham: New York Awake Bully Everyman's Journey *'' La Mission'' *'' The Devil and Daniel Johnston'' *''

Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Revolution disrupted society. A ...

'' *'' Big River Man'' *'' American Hardcore'' *'' Romántico'' *''

Racing Dreams ''Racing Dreams'' is a 2009 American documentary film directed by Marshall Curry following two boys and a girl through a season of World Karting Association (WKA) racing as they compete and aspire to become professional NASCAR drivers. ''Racing ...

'' *'' Walt & El Grupo'' *'' Evil Angel'' *'' The Weather Underground'' The Rights Workshop represents UK record label TOUCH, Thizz Latin and select composers including Michael 'Narada' Walden and Pyeng Threadgill. Corporate clients include Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle, Red Bull, and YouTube superstar Judson Laippley ("

The Evolution of Dance Judson Laipply ( ; born March 22, 1976) is an American internet celebrity from Bucyrus, Ohio. He served as the state president of The Ohio Association of Student Councils from 1993 to 1994. He is best known for his performance in the ''Evolution ...

", the most downloaded video in 2007).

Digital rights and new media

Proximity to Silicon Valley has resulted in The Rights Workshop becoming increasingly more specialized in digital and new media rights, including programming and supervising music for the RedBana game "Audition", streaming guitar lessons for JamPlay, and Doppelganger's Virtual Lounge.

Lecture series

In 2005 The Rights Workshop produced a series in the SF Film Centre called Sound 'n Cinema in which Wentz hosted the Q&A sessions between directors and producers. These included director Brad Bird with Oscar Award winning composer Michael Giacchino, Sundance Institute Film Program Director Peter Golub with director Michael Lehmann and composer Mark De Gli Antoni, eclectic record producer and SNL musical director Hal Wilner with trumpeter/composer Steve Bernstein, and film composer Marc Capelle with American Music Club singer Mark Eitzel. In 2007, Hal Leonard published
Hey! That's My Music: Music Supervision, Licensing and Content Acquisition
, a comprehensive guide to music licensing and copyright issues written by Wentz and based on her lectures. In 2009, The Rights Workshop hosted a series of workshops and talks called "Make Music, Make Money." The Rights Workshop represents Touch and Touch Music whose artists include Oren Ambarchi, Leif Elggren, Christian Fennesz, Soliman Gamil, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Geir Jenssen,

Stephan Mathieu Stephan Mathieu (born 11 October 1967) is a German mastering engineer and former musician. He currently lives in Bonn, Germany where he runs ''Schwebung Mastering'', an independent studio for audio mastering and restoration. :“(In 1997), I wo ...

, Phill Niblock,

BJNilsen Benny Jonas Nilsen (born 1975), alias BJ Nilsen, BJNilsen, and Hazard, is a Swedish sound artist based in Amsterdam. His work primarily focuses on the sounds of nature and how they affect humans. Recent work has explored the urban acoustic real ...

(alias Hazard), Rosy Parlane, Peter Rehberg, Carl Michael von Hausswolff,

Chris Watson John Christian Watson (born Johan Cristian Tanck; 9 April 186718 November 1941) was an Australian politician who served as the third prime minister of Australia, in office from 27 April to 18 August 1904. He served as the inaugural federal lead ...

and Jana Winderen, the Thizz Latin label and individual songwriters.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rights Workshop, The 2002 establishments in California Companies based in San Francisco Companies established in 2002 Intellectual property organizations