Copyright and music

[lucindamc123]

I have been doing some research about copyrighted music and I was very surprised that a lot of music that is listed as public domain is actually not public domain at all: This even applies to sheet music, karaoke music that you download and sing or perform.

It is best to go to the following sites to check the copyrights for music:

http://www.ascap.com/


http://bmi.com/



http://www.copyright.gov/

Most music published post 1923 is still copyrighted which means you can't use it in your movies and in many cases you cannot even record and perform it on the internet.

However, with ASCAP you can get a license to use music but it costs $1000 a year - a bit pricey for most of us.

This is the same for film clips, cartoons, images, artwork. But surprisingly there are a lot of films even as recent as the 1960's that are now in the public domain. But double check with the copyright office before using any of these.

However, there are many musicians who want their music to be heard and are unsigned artists. That is why I use original music from musicians like that or write music myself for my own movies.

A public performance for music is whenever you perform or play your own recording or in person or someone else's for an audience, other than in your personal home. That includes the internet.

But music publishers do have deals. I will research those sites and find out more about that. There are songs you can license for very small amounts of money as companies have actually bought the rights to this music and have it on databases to license to other people. Sometimes you can license a piece of fairly recent music - like from the 1950s, 1960,s and even later for a few dollars.

And if your movie is non-commercial, the prices are very low to license music.

[drudges]

Thanks for posting this lucinda, This is something I will need to look at. I will be watching this thread.

[lucindamc123]

Yes it is important and thank you for responding and watching this thread. It gets real discouraging, especially with music. That is why I found a lot of artists who actually want me to use their music in my movies and why I started writing my own.

For a lot of people just making movies that even though they will be on the internet, won't go viral or anything, it probably is no big deal. I mean look at YouTube, everyone puts anything they want up there. But when you start to get into the commercial end of this or promotional projects, then it does make a difference.

[Guest_yolise_*]

It's a massive issue indeed.

You should also understand that although similar, copyright in the UK and the US (and other jurisdictions) is different, usually with respect to duration of copyright. We are a UK company.

Copyright in most countries is enforced by the courts, so the weight of evidence as to any infringement rests on them to determine. It's not as cut and dried as it may seem. I'd suggest this wikipedia article as a good overview that makes reference to the differences across various jurisdictions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyrights

Note in particular the articles at the end. You might want to keep abreast of current copyright cases, especially with regard to Fair Use or Fair Dealing as these can change things in the minds of the courts. If you have any questions or concerns, I'd strongly suggest consulting a qualified copyright expert.

Lisa (not a lawyer and not speaking officially for Moviestorm as a result!)

[lucindamc123]

Personally for my movies, as I stated above, I get rights from the musicians or write the music myself. It would be nice sometime to use some old standards from the 40s or 50s, but so far from all the sites I have found, the license is too expensive. And no matter if no one cared or noticed I still would not use copyrighted music. It doesn't matter to me that a lot of people already do this. It is just that I am doing what I think is right and I don't really need access to copyrighted stuff. I would rather do it myself anyway. It is different if you are non-commercial and there are sites that buy blanket licenses themselves. But even with those sites when you get into producing commercial projects, the licenses are expensive.

[lucindamc123]

It's a massive issue indeed.

You should also understand that although similar, copyright in the UK and the US (and other jurisdictions) is different, usually with respect to duration of copyright. We are a UK company.

Copyright in most countries is enforced by the courts, so the weight of evidence as to any infringement rests on them to determine. It's not as cut and dried as it may seem. I'd suggest this wikipedia article as a good overview that makes reference to the differences across various jurisdictions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyrights

Note in particular the articles at the end. You might want to keep abreast of current copyright cases, especially with regard to Fair Use or Fair Dealing as these can change things in the minds of the courts. If you have any questions or concerns, I'd strongly suggest consulting a qualified copyright expert.

Lisa (not a lawyer and not speaking officially for Moviestorm as a result!)

Yes I read that too but it seems to me in my own interpretation that this protects the website that a particular piece of music plays on if someone else uploads the music or video or picture or story. In other words, if someone for instance, were to type say a current story protected by copyright into a message on say "Moviestorm's" message board, Moviestorm is not liable. Or if someone were to upload a movie here that is copyrighted. Or to make a movie from a copyrighted script or story or use audio from a movie for the voice overs in their own movie, Moviestorm is not liable.

But I also do not think that using copyrighted materials in making movies and uploading them here or any other movie uploading site constitutes "fair use". This is not a library or a school or any of the other types of venues that are allowed "fair use".

And there is the idea of having some "artistic integrity". In other words, "Don't use other people's stuff without their permission, it isn't cool!"