Steve House |
November 15th, 2008 06:28 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Christopher Glavan
(Post 963503)
I've seen many suggestions on this forum for music to use in wedding videos, ranging from solo artists to soundtrack compositions. I'm curious about a few things though:
1. Once I stick a piece of someone else's music into a video and turn a profit on it, I am infringing on copyright, yes? As a freelance videographer I would not really be so concerned with this, but my assumption is that once you've established a 'DBA' and/or purchased a business license things get a little harrier.
2. If I am infringing on copyright, and it will cause me problems as a business, where do I turn? Do I stick with royalty-free music? If so, does anyone have any good (relatively inexpensive, please) leads on cinematic music? Or, is there a cost-effective way to work licensing of songs into my pricing?
Any insight from business owners is especially appreciated!
Chris
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Royalty free music that's actually good, not the cheesy elevator music one thinks of as coming from stock libraries, can be licensed at reasonable rates from a variety of sources such as DeWolfe Music and Magnatunes. As an example of the quality of artists they represent, DeWolfe offers a classical library by the London Philharmonic, so it's not like you're paying for a kid down the street plunking out something on his Casio and they offer similar quality in a variety of genres. Magnatunes has a good library as well and are VERY inexpensive to license for low volume use.
The buyout library from Smartsounds offers a wide variety of good music and their free SonicFire Pro software allows you to search and buy fully licensed clips online at very reasonable rates. The software also allows you to remix the tracks to alter their mood and feel, change their tempo, fit them exactly to length by restructuring them internally, and a lot of other useful soundtrack preparation tools. Their CD's range from $50 up to around $200 but you can preview the entire library online and buy individual cuts for the neighborhood of $20.
How to handle the issue of clients who demand you include their favourite music and whether you should do it is a can of worms I won't address. Some people say they need to to stay in business. Some shooters are hard-nosed about not violating copyright and manage to succeed. Most people who, for whatever motive or whether out of lack of knowledge, personally are okay with compromising on respecting copyright law manage to get away with it. Some get caught and lose their shirts. You have to decide where your personal comfort level sits. It does seem to me, though, that even if you would use unlicensed music at a client's insistance, it is really tickling the dragon's tail to do so publically in your website samples as that is clearly commercial advertising use and visible to the general public, about as safe as running a radio station and not paying your ASCAP bill. In an era where RIAA sues grandmothers and 12 year old music downloaders, it's only a matter of time. Plus there's a matter of practical consideration as well. You might have a sample clip from a wedding of a couple who think Willy Nelson is just the cat's meow for walking down the aisle to. But that sample is going to turn off potential customers who can't stand country-western music. The ephemeral nature of pop music can hurt as well as help your marketing. Something that has wide general wide appeal and is in good taste will probably attract the most customers.
A final piece of advice - find the couple of hundred dollars to talk to an intellectual property lawyer to make sure you understand all the pros and cons and can assess the risks nd make decisions hoe to operate from a solid knowledge base. It would be money well spent and IMHO is as much as necessary part of operating the business as is buying tape for your camera.
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