Licensing a song for a movie

**UPDATE, since this keeps getting comments: I ended up passing on the opportunity, as their terms were actually (my initial misunderstanding) that they’d get the song for free, credit me, promote it, and use it in the actual film, but I’d only get compensation if someone bought it and THEN put out a soundtrack, not just if the movie sold. That’s just an extra step/headache that didn’t sit right with me. Original post as follows in case anyone else ends up in a similar situation.**

Hello all. I’ve got a friend that does indie movies and wants to put one of my songs in the film he just completed. However, speaking to he and his producer, I found out there wouldn’t be any compensation up front, but there would be the possibility to negotiate that from another party later if the film is sold. Also, it’d be featured in an actual scene (not just the credits), promoted, and they don’t intend to buy the song outright, just license it.

I know the pitfalls of offering anything for free (you can’t pay bills with exposure, after all), especially since I’m not really trying to build a portfolio for this kind of work; I’d just be doing a solid for a friend and have the opportunity to say “my song’s in a movie.”

I’m leaning toward no, but if I did say yes, I’d want to know what to look for in an agreement to protect myself and my song, so if anyone has any experience/advice with this, I’d appreciate it greatly. Thanks!

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