Music for PSA
 

I want to use a song by Sarah McLachlan for a PSA. If the video is used for a non-profit women's organization, do I still need to get permission to use it so they can use it on their website?

Also, how would I go about getting the permission? Anyone have contact info to do this?

Here is the video if you want to see how it is used:

www.bluestarvideo.com/videos/WPSA.wmv

Yes, you will need permission. ANY use of copyrighted material requires permission, no matter if it is non-profit or otherwise.

I would start by finding out who published that song for Ms. McLachlan. It might be on the CD cover, or a quick google search should turn it up. Then I would contact them. After you explain the use, they may grant you permission to use it for free (doubtful).

Tom...

on a side note, I thought the video was great. Good luck on getting the approval of the song.

Steve

I would read this to start:

The Music Bridge :: "All Clear" - Music Clearance Primer

Very roughly, what is your music budget? Might be a good time to build up your royalty free collection. There is really a lot of great stuff out there.

However, I bet the fee in your situation will be very low, but there are still administrative fees to make it happen, maybe $500ish

Jeff, That is a good referrence for the info I need...Thanks

Steve, Thanks for the accolades....only took an hour to shoot and 2hours to edit....it's amazing what a person can accomplish when they are motivated by one of these human interest stories. I shot her wedding a couple of months ago and learned about her plight and just felt compelled to tell her story. She wanted me to plug the wintergreenpress website because that is who she reached out to so she could keep her sanity.

Needless to say, wintergreen is just beside themselves with this clip and hope I am able to aquire the license.

Give it a try, but getting clearance to use a specific recording is difficult and potentially very expensive (you will need both the sync rights and the master recording rights.) As I've found, getting only sync rights is sometimes very easy and affordable, however that would mean you need to find someone to record it. Since the song is fairly simple, you could have it recorded by another musician with just piano and voice.