Copyrighted Music in Film Festivals

Redstreak

Redstreak

Active member
Hey guys!

I'm using some copyrighted music in a video I made, and I have "written" permission from the copyright holder in the form of an email, as long as it's non-commercial. Is that enough to submit my film to film festivals, or do I actually have to have a formal license agreement signed by both of us? I'm NOT intending to sell this video - I'm just hoping to win some awards.

The reason why I ask is because he's obviously doing me a big favor by letting me use the music for free, so I'm trying not to be annoying or to ask too much.

Thanks!
- David
 
My non-lawyer opinion: you're probably fine with that. I mean, obviously, the wannabe lawyer in me says "get an actual festival use licensing agreement" but in reality, unless it gets picked up by a distributor somewhere, if you have an email from the copyright holder granting you the right to use the music in the film for festival exhibitions, then you are probably fine with exhibiting at festivals.

Of course, the whole situation can quickly spiral out of control -- is this a published artist? If so, do you have permission from the record company as well as the author? Do you have the appropriate type of license (sync or mechanical) and on and on... but in reality, if it's simply for festival exhibition, and you've gone through the trouble to contact the artist, and the artist has said okay -- then you're on pretty decent ground to just submit it to the festivals and see what happens. Heck, you may not even get accepted by any, in which case the whole situation is nothing at all, y'know? But at least you went beyond what most people do and contacted the artist and got permission...
 
My non-lawyer opinion pretty much agrees with Barry. If you have an email from the artist giving you permission *and* the artist has the right to give you said permission then it's probably okay.
 
Remember that the artist quite often is not the copyright holder -- or, at least, not the only copyright holder.

I'd also suggest that an email probably wouldn't be sufficient in court, unless the court actually subpoenaed your email provider's servers. After all, anyone can print a pretty authentic-looking email using most any word processing program. Emails are too easily faked. It's also not too difficult to send yourself a phony email and have it appear to have come from the artist. Not saying YOU would do that, but the court would have to bear that in mind.

Protect yourself. Get it in writing.
 
Ok, thanks, guys. I think I'm going to try to get a more official document. Does anyone have an example that I could use, or a resource you can point me to?
I'm looking for something fairly simple if possible, that gives me permission to use the song for non-commercial use, for no compensation. Is there a standard for that sort of form?

Thanks,
- David
 
It's not really an official document - in fact, paid for 'official' documents from people like big record companies can even be an email!

The case in point here is fairly simple, and the law, as I understand it is very similar in the states as in the UK. The problem is which copyright?
There is copyright in the composition - so whoever wrote the music. There is then copyright in the recording. If your contact wrote the music and performed it, then if they give permission for you to use it at the festival, all is ok. If they re-arranged somebody else's composition, then you may have a problem. If they are signed to a record company - same thing, the record company may well control the recording. Here in the UK, PRS - who look after the composition don't usually object when a work is used if the owner of that copyright gives somebody permission. There is actually a proper way to do it where you remove the work from the system, but for a one-off, they usually just don't wish to be involved. PPL, who control the recordings are stricter, and the agreement with them is much more official, and is a contract witnessed and pretty rigid. They control the work, not the registrant, so using me as an example, as a member, I do not have authority to allow somebody to use my own stuff if I have registered it with them. The real issue could well be if the festival have negotiated copyright clearances with the US agencies - if they have, it's unlikely they will want to get involved with extra clearances.
 
Thanks for that info, paulears. The artist I've contacted wrote and performed the music, and he's actually the owner of his own record label, so I think that simplifies things a bit.

Are you saying that I *don't* need him to sign a contract?
 
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