Using copyrighted music in video clips

Buck Forester

Buck Forester

Well-known member
I'm sure this has been discussed before and I did a search but did not find anything specifically. Sorry if this is redudant. But I see so many sample video clips posted on Vimeo and YouTube that are using copyrighted music from big name musicians, all over the place... is this okay to do? No one seems to mention anything about it so maybe I'm missing something. I know it's not for profit, and the clip might be called "EX1 Test" or something generic, but is it okay that they use a copyrighted popular song as the soundtrack? If so, I did not realize it. If not, why is it such a wide spread practice without apparent legal consequences?
 
Buck Forester said:
I'm sure this has been discussed before and I did a search but did not find anything specifically. Sorry if this is redudant. But I see so many sample video clips posted on Vimeo and YouTube that are using copyrighted music from big name musicians, all over the place... is this okay to do? No one seems to mention anything about it so maybe I'm missing something. I know it's not for profit, and the clip might be called "EX1 Test" or something generic, but is it okay that they use a copyrighted popular song as the soundtrack? If so, I did not realize it. If not, why is it such a wide spread practice without apparent legal consequences?
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It is absolutely NOT legal without explicit permission - whether it's for profit or not is not even part of the equation. There are exceptions under the doctrine of "fair use" but those exceptions are very specific and very limited, dealing almost exclusively with news coverage, criticism and academic research, or classroom use. A posting of your clip on YouTube just for the fun of it or for bragging rights ain't included. As for why they're not prosecuted, time and volume more than anything else. Sometimes they are, such as the woman last year who shot her kid dancing in the kitchen to a Prince tune on the radio and posted it on YouTube. The same with the use of unlicensed copyrighted music as the soundtrack in wedding videos - many videograpahers get away with it their entire careers but it's not legal and IMHO raises serious ethical issues as well.
 
Gracias, Steve. That's what I thought. I even see some high-profile videographers using copyrighted music (and noting the musician), so I was just wondering. Since it's so prolific I thought maybe I was missing something. You'd think the big music companies would have a couple reps here and there being active in related forums, such as this, stopping by now and then and making it clear (and discussing the issue) so everyone knows. I think there's a lot of ignorance (people just aren't aware since they aren't selling anything with little online clips or publicly selling wedding videos, etc.), so I fault the recording industry somewhat for not being more high profile about this (other than an occasional news story or two about music-sharing sites). Of course the main responsibility is of the videographer who should research this stuff.
 
They probably don't go after it much because there isn't much $$ to be gained. They can sue some 16 year old but how much are they really going to collect? Of course it's not all high school students. I was once sent a rough cut of a film (to see if I was interested in posting it) that was just covered in infringed music. That isn't rare and it's sort of a dark grey area nobody looks too close at, because in the end the "temp" music will (better) all be replaced by stuff you have gotten rights for. Anyway I went to their site and and they had all these demo clips of various projects and THEY were all covered in music they didn't have the rights to (I asked them about it so I know they didn't have the rights). I walked away from that one. They just didn't see what the problem was, and they were all in their forties.
SK
 
As far as I know, there is nothing wrong with cutting to any piece of music you have purchased, as long as no one sees what you're cutting but you. So, if you're just using it as a tempo guide, and you replace it before you release the project, you haven't done anything wrong. If you don't replace it, you've violated another's copyright (i.e. copyright infringement) and you are liable at that point. That being said, most of the good on-line royalty-free music sites will give you a comping version of their music for free. (If you're not familiar, a comping version is one that is lower in resolution and tagged in the audio in various ways). The site I use has a voice-over saying "preview" at random intervals in their comping versions. So, why use something you know you will never be able to get rights to (unless you have lots of money)?

Phil
 
And even more important - understand the context of the music you're using. I love the store Harvey Firestein tells about I think either Regan or Bush 1 using "The Best of Times" from La Cage Aux Folles, a very gay musical love story. Quite ironic. :-)

Phil
 
ptalsky said:
As far as I know, there is nothing wrong with cutting to any piece of music you have purchased, as long as no one sees what you're cutting but you. So, if you're just using it as a tempo guide, and you replace it before you release the project, you haven't done anything wrong.
Phil
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This is actually how many big budget films go about it. The music editor will cut in temp music that is in the style of what the composer is going to put in. THat is even screened sometimes for select audiences. You have to be a little careful though if your using music that you hope to get the rights to. If it leaks out the artist can get pissy and either charge you more since it's hard for you to change or just not give you rights. That happened on a big film I worked on. The artist didn't like the presumption that she would sign off on the dotted line so she flipped them off instead.
 
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