using copyrghted music

[avenfoto 0]

so wtf? i know its wrong, and do it only in personal productions(ie: not for sale)
but how are the "major" companies getting away w/this?

thoughts?

[PhreeZone 15]

They pay for the licenceing rights?

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[shropshire 0]

I've often thought about this... What should we do when putting stuff up on sites like skydivemovies?

WHo is res[ponsible for any fine? The poster or the site publisher?

.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[LouDiamond 1]

HERE is the offcial answer(s) to your questions. To use music you must secure permission from the artist or music company that owns the song you want to use. Depending on your type of use, there are different types of permissions and fees associated with them. Wedding videographers have to deal with this quite a bit and it is very easy for them to cross the line and many knowingly do. Depending on the song and the type of use, I have seen fees as low as $5 and as high as thousands of dollars.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[LouDiamond 1]

HERE is a site on how you can go about getting a license and doing it correctly.


Another thing to think about when using music in a film and requesting licenses is the following:

FILM
When copyrighted music is included in a film, the specific recording of the composition is usually owned by the artist's record company. A Film Master Use License must be obtained....When music is used in a film there are potentially two separate copyrights involved that need to be licensed. In addition to the Film Master Use License (which covers usage of the actual recording), there is another license called a Synchronization License (which covers the music publishing)

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[DSE 3]

Quote

HERE is a site on how you can go about getting a license and doing it correctly.


Another thing to think about when using music in a film and requesting licenses is the following:

FILM
When copyrighted music is included in a film, the specific recording of the composition is usually owned by the artist's record company. A Film Master Use License must be obtained....When music is used in a film there are potentially two separate copyrights involved that need to be licensed. In addition to the Film Master Use License (which covers usage of the actual recording), there is another license called a Synchronization License (which covers the music publishing)

Additionally, there is usually a mechanical/compulsory on top of the above mentioned licenses, this will vary depending on ownership of the master and administration rights of the publisher. Windham Hill owns my master rights, but 5Finger Music owns my mechanical and Sync rights for film/television. It varies.

If you're interested, this article explains the basics pretty well in laymans terms, and provides information on learning how to find out who holds copyright on songs.
As far as sites like Skydivingmovies.com, they are liable. They've got their necks stuck way out, and eventually, it'll likely get chopped off, but at the moment, the RIAA and their team has much bigger fish to fry.
EVERY party to illegal use is liable. The people that edit the video for upload, and Skydivingmovies.com or any other site is liable. Many ISP's try to sign away liability, but recent judgements have demonstrated that they can't claim ignorance.
With products like Sony Cinescore, SonicFire Pro, free music tracks, sites like Stock20, etc...there is no real reason to use illegal music. This is a huge problem in the wedding industry; but those vids aren't nearly as accessible as skydiving movies.
Be cautious, you'd be surprised at the technology that's available to copyright violation hunters these days.
One avenue you can turn to; get direct (in writing) permission from the band and publisher to use their music. If the publisher grants permission, and they likely would for a skydiving video that is for fun and not making revenue, then you are welcome to use that piece. I know of one instance for certain where Dave Mustaine ordered his publisher to allow a Utah skydiver to use music from Megadeth for a publically shown, non-revenue generating video project on skydiving. But...Mustaine is a skydiver.
Bear in mind FWIW, copyright violation is now a criminal act as well as a civil act.
Either way, permission is much cheaper than forgiveness on this topic.

[avenfoto 0]

no, im aware of the rules and legal ramifications, and have looked into liscencing fees and so on...

what im getting at, is the majority of the dvds out there (in the sky/base market) (without naming specific films) are using major labels/artists/tunes ..

i would venture that the majority are NOT liscensed..

[DSE 3]

Quote

no, im aware of the rules and legal ramifications, and have looked into liscencing fees and so on...

what im getting at, is the majority of the dvds out there (in the sky/base market) (without naming specific films) are using major labels/artists/tunes ..

i would venture that the majority are NOT liscensed..

You would be correct. I've yet to see a boogie DVD that has licensed music on it.
That said, all the "big name" productions from Pier and similar, all are licensed, or using Music Bakery or similar music. (royalty free) They know better than to risk their business and assets on using illegal music.
Look...no one is going to jail over this. It's wrong, it's worse than speeding, but it happens. I don't care for it, I wish folks wouldn't do it. But until our industry polices itself...

[PhreeZone 15]

WFFC '01, '02 and '03 all used licenced music. I know it was a pain for Martini Shot's to get the music licence and even then it was all complelely unheard of bands that were trying to get a start. Some of the music was pretty good and the bands were invited to play on the stage at the next years WFFC.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[The111 1]

Hypothetical question. Say I try to get permission to use music from say, Tool (a fairly "big" band with a lot of sales, I'm sure) to use a song of theirs in a short skydiving video which would generate no profit but which would be distributed publicly on a website.

Firstly, I'd have no idea where to start. I'm guessing it wouldn't be as easy as one phone call. But assuming I could figure out how to get it all done...

Secondly, how much would a "normal" fee for this type of thing be? I realize the true answer probably falls in a very broad range, but I'd guess you have a much better idea of that broad range than I do, so clue me in.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[LouDiamond 1]

Quote

Firstly, I'd have no idea where to start...Secondly, how much would a "normal" fee for this type of thing be?

See the 2 links that I posted above. There is no "normal" fee for a song, it really depends on who owns it. I know on the screenplay editing forum one guy sought to use 30 secs of a Beetles song and they wanted $50k

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[normiss 642]

some things I've found recently Matt:

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

and

http://www.ascap.com/ace/

I've found some local bands that are awesome and seem to be quite willing to provide tunes also. Ther are a growing number of bands on myspace as well, and it's an easy way to contact them.

and don't forget using a standard model release too...gotta cover all asses these days!

see you this weekend!

[stratman05 0]

The companies involved have no idea what's going on. I looked into this for a client (use on the web). Each company said we had to go direct through them. One was going to give us a cheap flat rate (like $1K a year)...another wanted per song basis.

The second you start profiting is when you have to worry. But I doubt it will happen soon...the tandem video industry would be in big trouble. Skydivingmovies.com is actually in worse violation than sites like ifilm and youtube though...but not likely anything will happen to them (not saying why, but you can probably figure it out).