Filiming and releasing "Covers" band DVD

T

tomeuk

New member
Hi there,

This is a bit of a grey area to me in terms of copyright. But I am wondering if somebody could help me.

I'm planning on filming a live show for a friend's band. We plan to make a DVD that would be sold at their gigs, and video clips would also no doubt appear online.

My friends band, mainly play covers, folk music to be precise. Some of the music is 50+ years old, and should be out of copyright. However some of the songs will be younger than 50 years old.

The content on the DVD will feature the performance of my friend's band covering the song. It will not feature the original recording, copyrighted to the orginal owners.

My question is:

What are the legallities of this? and how would I go about obtaining the correct copyright permission? I do not want to break the law, and want to make sure I'm covered in every way possible.

Many thanks, hope I have made some sense :violin:
 
1. Do a search of the boards. The question has been asked and answered a million times.

2. For legal issues, always consult a qualified attorney before proceeding.

Best of luck!
 
tomeuk said:
Hi there,

This is a bit of a grey area to me in terms of copyright. But I am wondering if somebody could help me.

I'm planning on filming a live show for a friend's band. We plan to make a DVD that would be sold at their gigs, and video clips would also no doubt appear online.

My friends band, mainly play covers, folk music to be precise. Some of the music is 50+ years old, and should be out of copyright. However some of the songs will be younger than 50 years old.

The content on the DVD will feature the performance of my friend's band covering the song. It will not feature the original recording, copyrighted to the orginal owners.

My question is:

What are the legallities of this? and how would I go about obtaining the correct copyright permission? I do not want to break the law, and want to make sure I'm covered in every way possible.

Many thanks, hope I have made some sense :violin:
Click to expand...

MUSIC (words and musical notes) and RECORDINGS of music each have their own independent copyrights. Since you're recording your friends' own performances you don't need to worry about infringing the copyrights on any recordings other artists have made, including the original artist, but you DO need to pay attention to the copyrights on the music itself. 50 years isn't going back far enough - the magic date is 1922. In general music first published before that date is no longer in copyright so if your friends want to record Stephen Foster's "My Old Kentucky Home" no problem. But almost everything published after that date is still under copyright and you MUST obtain clearances from the copyright owners. If your friends want to perform the music publically they need to pay royalties through ASCAP, BMI, or whoever handles perfomance clearances for the songs they wish to use. If they want to record a cover to be released as an audio CD, they need a mechanical license and the Harry Fox Agency is the first stop for that. But if you want to record the perfomance on video and release the video as a DVD, you need to contact each of the copyright owners directly and negotiate a synchronization license. If it's going more than one or two songs, you should consider hiring a music rights clearance service as there's going to be a LOT of legwork involved.
 
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Tomeuk could well be in the UK - the profile doesn't help.

Here in the uk, there is a very simple system to clear the copyright, and it's not that expensive. Do a search for

mcps limited manufacture licence

This allows exactly what you have described - and here in the uk, the copyright period is 75 years, not 50.

It covers bands who are not signed. The wording mentions non-professional - but in the context you describe, even professional musicians who don't have a record label can use this system. There are limits on how many DVDs they can run, but it's large. What I do is handle this myself, and then the bands come back for more DVD or CDs rather than 'steal' the stuff and duplicate themselves because they want to be legit. I'm sure a few do burn their own, but enough come back to make it worthwhile. You don't even need to give track names, just genre - Thrash Metal, Jazz etc.
 
paulears said:
Tomeuk could well be in the UK - the profile doesn't help.

..c.
Click to expand...

Yep, didn't catch that. The info I gave was for North America.

Are you sure the "limited manufacture license" you mention applies to video soundtracks? Here there is a distinct difference in releasing a cover as an audio-only recording and using the song in the soundtrack of a film or video, even though it's the video of a performance.
 
Things get much more complicated as soon as money is generated. Selling these DVD's means you need to clear or pay for the rights. The UK law sounds great, but does not exist in North America. I went to clear a song for my last film, and the costs went up tenfold because it was over the end credits rather than in the body of the film itself. There are lots of rules when it comes to rights and clearances. The following book is a good one for the shelf to start getting an idea of what to do: http://tinyurl.com/ygqy844

Is this a "pay for hire" where they will sell the DVD's? If so, it really is up to them to clear and pay as needed. If you are the one profiting, then it is up to you to clear.

Michael
 
Thank you very much for your help guys.

Paul, I am from the UK, so this is perfect, I will do some further research into the methods you have described. Don't really plan on selling too many DVD's. We will probably do a run of 100 DVDs, and see how it goes from there. Just want to cover ourselves. As I am fully aware how much the PRS is out to collect every single penny they can.

Slightly OT, but I am new to this forum, and YES I did search, but its a very grey area topic for me and a situation. And as far as legalities go I am just a hobbyist.

However I do work in another field in this industry and can bring alot of experience to this board. I really hate people who jump on this, "SEARCH THE FORUM" bandwagon.

Rant over,

Thank you very much to the people who helped me out
 
MichaelP said:
Things get much more complicated as soon as money is generated. ...
Click to expand...
Actually, making money from the sales of the DVD doesn't make any difference in terms of the legality of the music clearances. True, the copyright owner might forgive some or all of their charges for a non-profit endeavor but you still need the same licenses regardless of whether you sell the DVDs or just give them away, whether you get paid for the shoot or do it pro bono. And sorry Tomeuk, but it also doesn't matter if you're a seasoned pro, a beginner on your first shoot shooting for your reel, or just a hobbyist doing the gig for the fun of it - the law on clearances is the same.
 
tomeuk said:
I really hate people who jump on this, "SEARCH THE FORUM" bandwagon.
Click to expand...

Hate??? Really??? Wow.....hate is a pretty strong emotion. I'm sorry you feel that way. I certainly wasn't trying to be snobbish or dismissive. But when you've spent a good deal of time here, you too will start to grow tired of answering the same questions over and over and over again, when people could have spent a little time searching the forums and at least have gotten a handle on some information for themselves.

I was genuinely trying to help. There is a wealth of information on this site, a great deal of it from industry professionals and people highly educated and skilled in their areas of expertise. Reading the forums is time well spent, and an education in itself. (Not implying that you haven't done that.)

I remember more than a few decades ago, when I got my first job in a pro camera specialty store. For the first week or so, whenever I didn't know something about a particular camera, lens, or other piece of equipment, I'd just ask the manager, and he'd give me the information I needed. On about the seventh day I worked there, he'd had all he could take of that. When I asked him about something, he snapped, "LOOK IT UP, DAMMIT!!!" We had a HUGE book with every spec on every piece of gear you could think of. I just hadn't bothered to open it. I was trying to get the answer fast, not thinking about how frustrating it must have been for him.

His snapping at me really opened my eyes. I went on to become the authority on everything in that store. I studied that book like a bible. At first I was mad that he'd jumped on me in front of customers like that, but then I realized that I was the one being rude by constantly expecting him to do my work for me. He did me a favor that day, and I've always remembered it.

So I truly wasn't trying to be a snot. Believe me, if I hadn't said "Search the forum", most likely somebody else would have. It gets said a lot here, and on most other forums like this.

I look forward to learning from you regarding your field of expertise. I hope one day, maybe a year or so from now, when some newbie comes on the board and asks a question in your field that, by then, has already been discussed and debated about a hundred times here, that you'll be more gentle with him than I apparently was with you.

Peace.
 
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