Music in Trailers

Chance White

Chance White

Well-known member
Hi everyone,

I am exploring self distribution (likely through RocketIndie if it is fully running soon) for my film DEATH OF SEASONS. I have cut together three trailers using three different copywritten songs from major artists. I am assuming I need to remove these songs and replace them with original music as I near the release of the DVD (I was going to include the trailers on the DVD). Is my assumption correct? I have seen many other indie filmmakers with copywritten music in trailers, even ones who self distribute, so I am not entirely sure what the deal is here.
 
Somebody paid for it. I don't think the use of copywritten music in a indie movie trailer falls under the guidelines for fair use.
 
Hi Chance,

Nice trailers - you'll want to get the audio/video in sync before your Internet release (lips don't match the words). At any rate, since it's clear your Indie isn't simply for distribution to your friends (Internet presence), you'll need to find suitable music in accordance with copyright laws.

If you want to keep your costs down, you could find something that might work from Stock20 - no lyrics but at $7.00 for 5-7 tracks at different lengths, you can't beat the price and the WAV/MP3 download process is painless. For your genre, consider their selections as: Backstage, Electropulse, Funk Pepper, Paranoia, Steady Pace, Suspense Toolkit.

You might also find suitable material as Sound-Ideas, Royalty Free Music and others. But other than appreciating the big boys trailer music (E. S. Posthumous, Immediate Music, X Ray Dog, etc) you don't want to meet their lawyers in the courtroom so avoid putting copyrighted music in your Indies intended for public distribution.

Good luck, Michael
 
moonlitnite - Thank you, excellent post, very helpful. I have considered royalty free in case my original music won't work, I was not aware of Stock20.

Thanks for the compliment on the trailers, however, they were not in sync for you? I have never heard this before from anyone and they should be in sync. Were you viewing the WMV or Quicktimes? Very odd.

Thanks again for the reply.
 
Rehi,

My earlier view was using Quicktime about 11AM. Great news - I tried again and the video/audio sync was great! (whew)

Regards, Michael
 
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