How to get permission to use copyrighted songs in shot films or features.

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UncleKornicob

Member
I am new to the legal side of production music. All I have ever done is basic YouTube stuff. I am sick of this royalty free crap. I need real music.
I have a huge list of independent bands that I want to get in contact with. Though, I don't think I know what "independent" means in regards to music. Does this mean they have no record label?

Anyways the first band that I want to get in contact with had several emails on their contact page on their website.
These are the four contact emails provided.

International management
Press
Record label
Product Manager

Which one should I contact to be granted permission to use a song in on of my short films/features that either A) will be posted to youtube and monetized. B) be submitted to a film festival.

Either way if permission is granted do I need to get someone to sign a music release form?

Thanks!!
 
UncleKornicob said:
I am new to the legal side of production music. All I have ever done is basic YouTube stuff. I am sick of this royalty free crap. I need real music.
I have a huge list of independent bands that I want to get in contact with. Though, I don't think I know what "independent" means in regards to music. Does this mean they have no record label?

Anyways the first band that I want to get in contact with had several emails on their contact page on their website.
These are the four contact emails provided.

International management
Press
Record label
Product Manager

Which one should I contact to be granted permission to use a song in on of my short films/features that either A) will be posted to youtube and monetized. B) be submitted to a film festival.

Either way if permission is granted do I need to get someone to sign a music release form?

Thanks!!
Click to expand...

I'm guessing either the record label or the product manager -- or both.

Yes, you will need a signed release form. And it needs to be signed by someone who represents the copyright owner, not the band itself.
 
UncleKornicob said:
I am new to the legal side of production music. All I have ever done is basic YouTube stuff. I am sick of this royalty free crap. I need real music.
I have a huge list of independent bands that I want to get in contact with. Though, I don't think I know what "independent" means in regards to music. Does this mean they have no record label?

Anyways the first band that I want to get in contact with had several emails on their contact page on their website.
These are the four contact emails provided.

International management
Press
Record label
Product Manager

Which one should I contact to be granted permission to use a song in on of my short films/features that either A) will be posted to youtube and monetized. B) be submitted to a film festival.

Either way if permission is granted do I need to get someone to sign a music release form?

Thanks!!
Click to expand...

The sticky mentioned will point you to information on this subject, and point to some sites which have 'reasonable' licensing for various types of music.

The 'rights' you are looking for to put music into your films is called 'synchronization rights'. These are different from such rights as 'performance' or 'playing of recorded music to a live audience', etc.

In addition to 'synch rights' you also need to think about 'how wide', and 'what class of presentation' your film will be shown. If you are looking for 'world wide theatrical', that may cost more, a lot more, than say, 'fest/competition' rights. There may also be 'Internet' rights these days as well as 'streaming', or other methods of distribution.

For music you can 'name', and is generally known, most likely you can not afford licensing such material for an 'indie' or nolo budget film.

The only exception to that may be 'classical' or 'old folk'(*) where you have musicians perform the public domain work, and get releases from the musicians for their performances.

*In the 60's there was a 'rage' of 'folk' styled music, however, the lyrics and tunes were written and performed by the musicians so could be under copyright. (And I'm avoiding the discussion as to whether a public performance is 'publishing'... or not... which is a problem for say 30's vintage music that was recorded on disks, even distributed on disks, but was not considered 'publishing' until recent times...).

The whole area is a morass of litigation. Best choice, chose from the 'sticky' listed sites that have license schedules in your budget for your expected distribution level... that or compose and perform your own music...
 
Check out YouLicense.com. They have some great music on there and the license fees are very reasonable and it's all handled electronically.
 
You can avoid the whole licensing headache by going with your first idea, which was to use an indy band. Their "record label" will often be theirs or their brother in laws, rather than a big time label. They will generally be happy for the exposure and will let you use their music pro bono. The trick is to find an indy band with real talent that is going places, and get them before a real label signs them.
 
mainstreetprod said:
You can avoid the whole licensing headache by going with your first idea, which was to use an indy band. Their "record label" will often be theirs or their brother in laws, rather than a big time label. They will generally be happy for the exposure and will let you use their music pro bono. The trick is to find an indy band with real talent that is going places, and get them before a real label signs them.
Click to expand...
Just make sure they are performing their own composition. A cover needs a synch license form the owner of the copyright on the music even if the band performing it isn't with a label. The copyright on the music itself - the melody and lyrics - is separate and distinct from the copyright on a recording of a performance of the music. To use a song at all you need permission of the owner of the music - the composer and lyricist as represented by the song's publisher - in the form of the sync license, while to use a specific recording of the music you also need a master use license from the owner of the copyright to the recording, typically the label that released it. Unless it's original music and the band self-publishes and is also their own label, the permission of the band itself is usually irrelevant.
 
in my first post on this forum i found a place i can help :)

i jsut did this for my first film and i can tell you its a headache .. this is the best way to get all the information you need. find the name of the song and the band of course and go to all of the music publishing sites and look for the work. in ascap its the ACE look up and on bmi you jsut search the song.
once you find the name of the song usually the contact information for the publishing company will pop up also. the cool thing is if they have a website usually they have a form on the site that you fill out for your request of the song. If they dont have a site there is a number that you can call and get the information you need.
the song i got had 3 publishers and i had to contact each because they charge different for their share of the song. you can always negotiate but in my case i had to negotiate with all 3 and then they directed me to the label to get the master of the song. it can be complex but like others have said try a indy band because they will just be happy with being apart of something and look at it like promotion .
overall its easy to do just time consuming. the Rate on mine started at 800 including the 250 for the master.. i ended up paying 300 for the song 50 to one of the publishers and the other two was fine with letting me use the song as it was for my first film and i took the time to contact them over just using it with out consent but i still had to pay the label 250 for the master. also they do charge differently for what you use the song for but that also will vary.
 
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