copyrights

[adamkat22]

so this local musician arranged and preformed a rendition of a classic rock song that i was going to use in a project. i usually don't use copywritten music, but when i have, i was told to just not mention it in the credits so as not to bring attention to it.
for this, the new preformer wants me to include the name of the original songwriter, and then say arranged and preformed by him with a copyright on his arrangement.
this film will not be great and while i hope to get it in some festivals and get it out, i'd never sell it. should i put the name of the original singersongwriter? can the new arrangement have a copyright without obtaining performance rights?
thanks
adam

[Scotness]

I don't know the answer to all your questions - but any worthwhile festival will have issues with a popular song being covered in it with out the appropriate royalties and copyright clearances haveing been paid.

I'm not sure what country you're in but there will be some national organisation that covers all of this - get in touch with them - there'll most likely be a web page.

If it's a little thing you're making to show friends (and not any festivals etc) you could include whatever music you like - which would still be illegal - but no one would probably care. As soon as you want to show it publicly anywhere you're opening yourself right up for litigation.

Check into it - your muso friend should be aware of all this too.

Scot

[Nigel]

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

In the USA if you have rights to a performer you may not have rights to the song.

Example:

Mozart is in the public domain and anyone can play his music freely. If you have a recording of Jimmy Page playing Mozart you are not free to use it.

I would say that you will need to clear both the recording you have and the get the rights to the sheet music/lyrics as well.

Good Luck

[Will2]

You are seeking "synchronization" rights, not "performance" rights.

Copyright law is very confusing but one way to look at it is there are many individual rights associated with each work. The right to perform, the right to record & sell (mechanical rights), the right to "synchronize" (to use in a film or video which is what you are doing) and many other rights that would be too long to list.

The ORIGINAL author or copyright owner has the right to grant synchronization rights, any ARANGEMENT is considered a "derivative work" and while the arangement can be copyrighted, it doesn't supercede the original author's rights.

So you'll have to find the Classic Rock band's publisher and start negotiations. Good luck with that.

[woods01]

Well, I have been to a lot of film festivals and various screenings, and I am suspicious that many festivals don't really give a damn about the legal clearances. They assume you've got it all taken care of. I've seen many skateboard and snowboard videos that were loaded with hits of the 60s and 70s. Its a don't ask, don't tell collusion.

On the Sundance Film festival website you can watch the short films online. One of the docs uses Black Sabbath music quite prominently. The doc looked like it was shot on video and seemed very low budget DIY so I'm suspicous that they paid big bucks for the music but cheaped out
with prosumer video and poor sound.

I can't bring any titles to mind but I have heard of indie features doing
well at a festival or two but not getting distribution because their music wasn't cleared. The legal entanglement scared off potential distributors.

Can anyone reccomend any good books on film copyright issues? This
thread really brings up a number of issues.

[MovieStuff]

I think it pretty much works like this:

1) The festival will have a line on the entry form that says you swear you are the copyright holder for all elements in your film or video. Most people will say "yes", out of ignorance about copyright law or just to outright lie about it, hoping that they won't get caught (or possibly because they know their film sucks, so it becomes a moot point).

2) As long as you give the musical artist proper credit and don't make money, most will not care unless the film's subject matter makes them look bad by association. Then you'll get a call from their attorney.

3) As has been noted, some festival winners might find distribution problematic if the music has not been cleared. So you can win but also lose. ;)

4) And as Nigel has noted, just because a friend performs a cover of a piece of music and let's you have it to use in your film does not mean you are in the clear. If the original music has a copyright, then you are in violation of that copyright unless your friend got written permission from the original copyright holder.

Now, having said all that, let me tell you a true story. A million years ago when I was finishing The Jet Benny Show, I needed some violin music. I searched around until I found Paganini's collection of caprices, which are tortuous, frenetic violin exercises for the insane. I chose Paganini's Caprice #13 to use for a scene where Jet Benny is wondering through the bowels of his ship playing the violin. Being young and stupid (not to mention poor) I never gave a second thought to using the music, mainly because I never thought the movie would go anywhere or do anything, commercially. We did it just for fun.

Fast-forward to years later and I suddenly found myself with a distribution deal on Jet Benny for video release. I eagerly filled out all the distribution contracts, totally forgetting about the pirated music from Paganini. Later on, after the film was released and I was watching the video transfer of it, I suddenly remembered the lifted music. Compounding the problem was the choice of music. While Paganini's caprices were obscure to the average person, classical music experts were quite familiar with them. In fact, the caprice I picked out, #13, was so hard to perform that only a handfull of violinists in the world could handle it and, out of those handful, only one had ever recorded it. Thus, the obscure recording by Michael Rabin of an obscure caprice on an obscure LP in the bargain section of an obscure record shop wasn't so obscure after all. Apparently its obscureness made it very well known and I was just sure it would be my downfall.

Racked with guilt, I consulted a friend of mine who was an experienced attorney in copyright issues. I asked quite plainly if he thought I would get sued. His reply - "You should be so lucky, Roger. Because a lawsuit is a sure sign that you made enough money that it mattered to someone else."

Jet Benny was maginally successful, for a super 8 feature, but I never got sued so I guess it was not successful enough. However, I would not suggest taking the route that I did. Get copyright clearance on everything related to your project. You'll be in a better legal position to make deals later on. More importantly, not capitalizing on the known public acceptance of someone else's music will make you work to find more creative and original solutions to your problem. That's always more satisfying to both the film maker and audience.

Roger

[Will2]

Publishers and Performance rights organizations are really good about putting out "horror stories" of copyright infringement. But Roger is right, the chances of you actually being sued are really low unless you make money or enough people see it.

That's why alot of Wedding Videographers just go ahead and use the music that clients ask for since only a handful of people will see the video... although it's still technically a violation.

But then, as artists ourselves, an argument could be made that we should respect other artists' copyrights so do what you think is right. (I hated when my boss used to say that to me.)

[adamkat22]

well, the first movie i ever made used copywritten music and it was pretty successful. it toured us and europe with a few festivals and nothing ever came of it. i've asked many festivals and they've said its pretty much "don't ask don't tell" but that they just won't distribute it on compilations that they sell. since then i use only local musicians who give me rights though.

my main problem in this situation is that the preformer wants to put a copyright on HIS arrangement in the credits. i'm not worried about obtaining sync rights for myself, because i'll assume i won't put this movie anywhere where i'll get in trouble, and i certainly won't make money off it. i am worried about him needing performance rights though in order to "copyright" his arrangement.

i also don't know if the best thing is to not mention the original songwriter in the credits and hope it slips by easier, or respect the original songwriter by putting his name, even though i'm not obtaining righst from him and his publisher.

[Will2]

well, the first movie i ever made used copywritten music and it was pretty successful. it toured us and europe with a few festivals and nothing ever came of it.

Publishers would call that "lucky." But really, touring festivals where you've released the festival from damanges is probably not a big deal to publishers, but get it on HBO and you'll be having issues.

If you want to go the "don't ask don't tell" route, I would suggest (not legal advice) just saying the name of the song and "arranged and performed by WHOEVER" and avoid any copyright notices of this arrangement.

It's probably his recording he wants copywright protection on, that's the (P) not a (C). That's what record labels secure, a phonographic copyright which has nothing to do with the copyright of the written material. Sync rights involve both the writer and the holder of the (p) recording rights in a sense... and they can be and often are two different entities.

Keep in mind that copyright protection exists automatically once you've created a piece. In the U.S., the notice just ads an extra leg in legal disputes, and registration of the (c) another. So he is protected no matter what if he can be protected which I'm not sure since its a derivative work anyway. So you could just give him the credit but not actually put a (c) notice on there which could piss off a publisher.

[Angus]

I found Paganini's collection of caprices, which are tortuous, frenetic violin exercises for the insane.

Back when I was learning the violin, my teacher reckoned me good enough to provide me with a book of the 24 Caprices.....I distinctly remember learning 4, 10, 13 and of course 24...reckon I could have played them all at that time.

Nowerdays the main exercise my trained fingers get is typing at 85wpm...ah what could have been...I could have been in insane, posessed violinist!

[marc]

What about sound effects and music that you can buy that is specifically made for dubbing for filmmakers. Are there copywrite issues associated with this also?

[audadvnc]

Yes. Assume everything previously recorded is copyrighted. Only your original music is yours; everything else has somebody's name on it, and you need to speak with a lawyer familiar with music law to get it ironed out. And you still might not be able to use it.

I have a friend who wished to perform music of Hans Eisler, a musical collaborator to Bertolt Brech. Eisler died in 1962, but his family zealously guards the copyright and performance rights to the Eisler repertoire. My friend was unable to clear the unusually stringent financial and legal hurdles the family threw out against him, and he had to cancel the project. So, that's why you don't hear too much Eisler on the NPR classical stations.

[Will2]

What about sound effects and music that you can buy that is specifically made for dubbing for filmmakers. Are there copywrite issues associated with this also?

Yes. I used to do marketing for several sound effects companies that create sounds for radio and they are CRAZY PROTECTIVE about their effects. They make most of their money through performance rights with ASCAP and BMI for radio and TV so they monitored and prosecuted any infringement they ran across no matter how small.

However, there are companies that sell "buyout" cds where you can use their effects for almost anything (usually not mass produced dvds though) after you buy the cd sets. Those libraries can be $300 to several thousand dollars.

CD's you can buy in record stores of sound effects are fine for small local productions and corporate videos because they probably don't care and won't find out, but they are technically not for professional use only home uses.