How can I use Copyrighted Music in my film?

Of course the little guys could easily still produce affordable pieces just with royalty free music - not sure if anyone has right on wedding march and all those other wedding songs... surely most of that is public domain, would just need the performance rights and with a live organ or whatever at the church thats just a signature away.
 
Copyright exists not only so an artist can be compensated but so that they may control how their work is used. When the topic is music, everyone always always seems to come down on the side of "it's justified because X". If the tables were turned and the issue was a forum member's video work being improperly used, I'm sure everyone would call for blood. Maybe R.E.M. does not want their music used in a wedding video. Maybe Capt Quirk does not want clips from his wedding video included in the trailer for "Hostel 4: Worst movie ever"

What is surprising is how often this question comes up. It should be a sticky :)
 
I'd let my clips be seen in whatever, any exposure is good. I do however have a problem with somebody else making money off of it when I'm not. I feel the same way about the music companies huge profits off of the artist, and don't even get me started on the gas and oil people!
 
Capt Quirk said:
My point is, I don't make a penny from this. In fact, I actually go into the hole doing these freebie weddings for our kids. I would love to do this the proper way and get the rights, but I will not jump backwards through all the hoops, do a half gainer waiting weeks or longer for the process, then spend a bundle of cash on a short piece of music. Specially considering the artist is lucky to get a few pennies of that cash, when some fat assed exec is making a bundle off of it. Screw the man.

If the process were easier, and actually affordable, and the artist got his fair share, I would more than happily do it, as well as hundreds of other folk who actually do wedding video for their livelihood.
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Not trying to give you a bad time. This thread was started with a question about using copyrighted music. It doesn't matter if you make any money or not. It also doesn't make any difference if the artist is being totally screwed by the music industry and it certainly doesn't matter what you think about the music industry. So your point is your opinion and is in no way a legal defense. Now I also don't in any way condemn you for this but it isn't legal and anyone reading this should not confuse your opinion on the music rights issue with what is and isn't legal.
 
Just as long as we both agree, screw the man! hehehe ;)

But in all seriousness, you are right. Even if I'm not making anything, I am in violation. If I were doing a serious project, I would by all means either take the appropriate steps, or most likely sidestep them all together by having original music. Musicians can be cool to hang with.
 
I'm not sure I would put it exactly that way but yes I agree that the whole rights process is a royal pain, is often not as beneficial to the artist as it ought to be and ridiculously structured for low budget projects and mostly designed by over paid music industry executives so they can be even more over paid.
 
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