Music Copyright

Is any one familiar with copyright problems when using music tracks with an online slide show? Or what is required to secure permission to use individual music tracks.
Thanks

It depends on where you are and what you will use the slideshow for. If you do a search for Royalty Free music you will find all sorts of sites that sell music just for production. They idea is basically the same as RF photos, a one time payment for multiple use.

If you are looking to use more familiar commercial music, a Rolling Stones track for instance you will need to licence it. In the UK you would approach the Performing Rights Society and they would be able to sell you a licence.

The PRS has a relatively new licence for limited use in AV that would allow you to use the music in small scale productions for a low cost.
I am sure other countries will have similar organisations

--
http://www.jasonrowphotography.co.uk
http://www.jasonrow.wordpress.com
'Travel is the antidote to racism, bigotry and prejudice' Mark Twain

Yidahoo said:

If you are looking to use more familiar commercial music, a Rolling Stones track for instance you will need to licence it. In the UK you would approach the Performing Rights Society and they would be able to sell you a licence.

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In the US, the two main licensing groups are ASCAP and BMI - there are a couple smaller ones too. (Used to work in a related industry)

ASCAP and BMI only license performance rights. They do not offer the various types of licensing required to synchronize music to a slideshow. That must be negotiated with the owner of the music and its recording. Good luck with that.

The simplest approach is to use something like Triple Scoop Music.

What paul means is you need to get the sync rights from all of these for any/every song you want to use:
writer
performer
producer
sometimes someone else as well.

I've heard there is a move afoot to make this easier, but in the past it's tough as you are one person wanting a very small use/transaction so they're not gonna want to be bothered talking with you. Now if you were Universal Studios...
--
If I knew how to take a good picture I'd do it every time.

Interesting. I didn't realize it would be different for this purpose. I worked for a company that does background music for businesses, so the perfomance side is where my experience lies.

PenguinPhotoCo said:

but in the past it's tough as you are one person wanting a very small use/transaction so they're not gonna want to be bothered talking with you. Now if you were Universal Studios...
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While not exactly the same as the rights needed for slideshows/etc, it seems even BIG companies and editorial news (!) broadcasters can't get always get/afford the rights they want or are too afraid of the expense of lawsuits...

On CNN recently, they did a story about Rolling Stone magazine listing the top rock songs of all time, and as they were listing the top 5 at different times throughout the broadcast, the anchor was VERY obviously annoyed by legal rights clearance restrictions and commented several times with really disgusted and sarcastic remarks like, "I'd love to play some that some of that song now for you, but we dont have the rights to do that without getting sued", and similar snide comments about Rolling Stones and Paul Lennon songs.

Properly licensed tunes from companies like triple scoop or other RF Royalty-Free (Buyout) Music sources are the safest choices, just not cheap.

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Eric in Florida

Thank you all. I really appreciate all the information provided. The members of this forum possess a wealth of information.

http://www.harryfox.com/index.jsp

The Harry Fox agency is a good place to start with many music tracks. Be warned though that it can get expensive. I once had a client that wanted to use about fifteen seconds of a fairly well known country song. The song was two decades old, and it was a small trailer sales company advertising on a 5kw AM station. Ninety days use at 2x day was over twelve grand.

--
Jim Dean

Because of the efforts of ASCAP and others, there are very detailed laws about usage in retail business -- the area is very well developed and policed.

For whatever reason, the same thing hasn't heppened for multimedia usage.

Interestly, many other countries have passed laws that allow the kinds of usage we would like to make of music simply by filling out a form and paying a very reasonable fee. It's incomprehensible to me why we don't have this in the USA. Actually, no, having spent some time in the music industry, I completely get why we don't have it.

What a country.

Harry Fox does not do the sync rights you would need for a slide show. They discontinued this service in 2002.

http://www.harryfox.com/public/LicenseSynchronization.jsp

This is a very frustrating and complicated area of copyright law. I did a lot of research and posted a lot of info on this forum a few years ago -- I'll have to take a look and see if I can find it and bump it up to this thread.

I don't think there has been much changed since I did the research. There are some new laws pertaining to streaming music and digital downloads, with easing of the complications in getting licenses for these activities, but I don't believe those licenses cover the usages we photographers want to make in terms of creating slideshows, etc.

Best,
Paul
http://upstatephotographers.com

You can get a license to perform music on a website--even synced to a slideshow on your website--from both BMI and ASCAP. In fact, you can do it all online on the BMI website.

The cost for the BMI license is just over $300 per year, which isn't much for a professional business. That gives you access to thousands of popular music in their catalog for as much as you want for the year.

However, this license is strictly for website play only --this is not a synchronization license that can be applied to any distributed formats like a slideshow on CD.

http://bmi.com

Look under "new media."

--
RDKirk
'TANSTAAFL: The only unbreakable rule in photography.'

Right -- if you just want music to play "wild" when someone enters your website, this license would clearly cover you, and BMI links to a photographer's website that does just that. To me, this usage of music is pretty lame and not something I'm personally interested in however.

Anyway, what is less clear to me is whether or not that New Media license would cover you online if you actually synced the music to your images -- timed transitions to it, ducked it under voiceover, combined snippets of several pieces of music in the same presentation -- in other words, all the things that a standard synchronization license allows you to do.

My gut feel is that even online, use of music for anything other than playing completely unsynced is not covered by this license.

Not sure though. Here's what BMI says about synch licenses:

"BMI Doesn’t License Mechanical and Synchronization Rights

Songwriters and publishers also receive payments from mechanical licenses. A mechanical license is written permission from the publisher to manufacture and distribute a record, CD or audio tape for a specific copyrighted composition. The amount of the royalty paid to a songwriter from a mechanical license is determined by how many recordings are sold. BMI does not license such things as the making of phonograph records or the printing of sheet music.

Synchronization licenses are another potential source of income for songwriters and publishers. The “synch license,” as it is sometimes called, pays copyright owners when their music is used in combination with visual images such as music in films, TV, videos, computer programs, etc. BMI does not offer synchronization licenses. The producer of the audiovisual production usually requests a synchronization license from the song publisher. These rights are administered and licensed by the publisher who accounts directly to the writer. BMI represents music publishers, but BMI is not itself a publisher.

If you would like to know more about how BMI works with songwriters and publishers, visit the Writer/Publisher Relations area of our web site.

You may learn more about mechanical and synchronization licenses on the web site of the National Music Publishers Association.

If you would like to read more about copyright law, visit the web site of the U.S. Copyright Office."

Let's just say music is a big GIANT PITA! (I blame record companies more than anyone else.)

Trust me...I've dealt with it on both ends. (I've recorded and/or played on several albums.)

You think licensing a photo is a pain..?
It's a walk in the park compared to the landmine filled world of music!

I got so fed up with the whole mess (publishers, other writers, various rights) that I finally threw in the towel...and now any request just goes through my attorney's office. Even he hands it over to another guy more experienced with the music biz. (I once allowed someone to use a song I recorded, on a VERY small film, only to have a publisher give ME grief! Of course, I thought, "It's my song, p!$$ off!" Nope, it doesn't quite work that way.)

Go ahead and follow the links previously posted...

Just know that music rights, especially a synch license, can be a pain...and mechanical licenses can start to get expensive. Any music I use these days is strictly my own (no 3rd party publisher or record company)...I don't need some former bandmate/record company/publisher claiming that I owe them ANYTHING

or find a local band/mixing artist and have them make you an original music track
give them credit and take some pics for them in return.

oldwesterncowboy said:

or find a local band/mixing artist and have them make you an original music track
give them credit and take some pics for them in return.

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Yep...just make sure they haven't published any of them yet... 'cause THOSE people will throw a wrench into the works...