Shooting Weddings And Events With The Hvx

How do you deal with issues of copyright on music on your wedding videos?

We've struggled with it, and haven't gotten any resolution. We don't do a lot of wedding, in fact, very few. But we uniformally turn down requests to include CD songs due to these issues.

Is this buy out stuff or your own recordings or what?
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They can give me a cd with their music on it, and that's what I use. And I also add a disclaimer about the video being for private use only. So I look at it as it's their music to begin with (they paid for it) and they are paying me for a private video that cannot be used for anything commercial. So far no problems.
 
pmpworks said:
They can give me a cd with their music on it, and that's what I use. And I also add a disclaimer about the video being for private use only. So I look at it as it's their music to begin with (they paid for it) and they are paying me for a private video that cannot be used for anything commercial. So far no problems.
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I wish that was the law, but I don't believe it is.

My understanding is that you cannot legally use copyrighted music in a video production that you are charging a fee for. It doesn't matter if you or the client owns the cd.

I won't pontificate about it, but you might want to take hard look at this use. This is why we always use royalty free music for all our DVDs, regardless of the nature of the DVD.

Best
 
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Yes, but with Zoomlicense, there's no reason to not use copyrighted music. Just pay the $3 or whatever and legally license the song that you want.
 
Zoomlicense? Did I miss something in this thread? This is not something I have ever heard of.


EDIT: Just googled it. Is this new? All I can say is it's about time something like this existed in North America. Basically a flat fee for 100 songs, and a reasonable fee. It's about time!

Later,
Jason
 
Doh!.... Well, all I can say is that should have been followed by 8 posts of discussion about how awesome that is. :)

later,
Jason
 
The problem with Zoomlicense at least now is that it may not have the songs you want.

I also don't like the idea that I need to create an account to see if I want to join the account.

Finally, I think you need to buy songs in blocks - not individual songs as you need them.

Might be wrong, so I'm staying with buy out stuff until someone else reports on Zoomlicense
 
K, back to HD wedding shooting.

From my perspective here in L.A. the percentage of clients that actually request and are looking for HD is very small. My minimum package is 3 grand for a 2 DVX shoot. Smart brides are looking to connect with shooters and a product that will creatively, intimately document their ceremony.

Here the minimum HD packages start around 8K. From what I have seen those shooting HD will use JVC or Canon. Once you approach 10K, you might as well start referring and considering the 16mm and 35mm companies.

I did 2 Wedding Expos in October and I had one bride walk up to me all excited by the demo reel. She kept repeating to me "Eight milimeter, Eight milimeter!" So we educated her on 24p. I doubt many clients are looking for companies specifically based on format, unless it is film. Most don't know what they want or are looking at.
 
$3000 for 2 camera's is about the same going rate in ohio, I however only have one HVX. I charge $800 for wedding and reception. I shoot in 720 24p for a few reasons: First I can get over 4 hours on my FS-100, Second I can mix overcranked footage with it, Third I can edit it without any problems on my Mac Pro, and Fourth everyone loves the way it looks at 24p. It also gives me a master backup that eventually I could resell to the clients if they want HD later on. So for me it works out good. I do think I might be getting out of doing weddings, man they really take a toll on you!:Drogar-Dolar(DBG):
 
I can't shoot with less than 2 cameras. That would freak me out. $3K is my low. Unfortunately, wedding videography isn't regulated, the market is oversaturated and folks don't know any better.

Factor in that people don't realize the objectivity and differences between shooters. They don't even meet the people before the wedding day most of the time.
 
The brides that don't want to pay for HD get their wedding shot with a cheap single chip prosumer HDV camera delivered in full high definition quality on a DATA DVD that is playable on Playstation 3 or a HD-DVD deck. For the brides that want to pay extra for high definition I will rent a higher end camera such as an HVX or HD XDCAM EX and will deliver on a real Blu-Ray disc.
 
See that's the thing though. If they can afford it. Why are they going to pay for a 2 or three camera fully archived HVX shoot when they have the budget for film?

Yes the budgets are bigger but we're still competing with the other vendors. Still photographers budgets are starting at 4, 8 and 10K. I know of a photographer that gets 30K. Insane but true.
 
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