Pay Up or Face The Music! What You Need To Know About Copyrights!
If found guilty of copyright infringement, under the criminal portion of
the law, or liable, under the civil portion, you may face a penalty of
five years imprisonment and up to $250,000 in damages.
Did we get your attention?
What we are talking about is a specific niche in overall copyright law: the soundtrack of your event sizzle reel. You produce a gorgeous affair, Your video team is taping hours of footage. You edit an exciting few minutes, showing decor, costumes, location, catering and entertainment to promote and demonstrate your work and place the video on your YouTube or Vimeo channel. More often than not we use the native sound, i.e. the band's stage performance audio on the reel. In some cases, we use another song on the soundtrack.
So what rights do we have to worry about?
Record companies and copyright companies have developed software that allows them to find the most obscure video and its soundtrack. And they will come after you if you violate any copyrights.
And there are different rights to worry about: Master Rights, Synchronization Rights, Publishing Rights.
A number of notions are floating around, such as "fair use", "public domain" and "promotional use" and alike. It's confusing and possibly costly in consequences.
So we decided to investigate the situation and bring you a comprehensive fact sheet.
We contacted the United States Copyright Office (http://www.copyright.gov/) by telephone.
Botttomline: "fair use" is a legal argument that does not even come into play until you are standing in front of a judge!
If you use any copyrighted material, you have to figure out which copyrights apply, who owns them and negotiate the right to use it.
The fact that you paid the copyrights for the night of the performance does not include the right to copy the work on video and distribute it.
Next we contacted ASCAP and the Recording Industry Association of America to see whether the argument that we are just promoting our own work and not making money off these recordings or performances with these videos make any difference.
The answer is a resounding "No".
ASCAP published a very useful tip sheet to help everyone obtain necessary rights:
How You Can Clear Cover Songs, Samples, and Handle Public Domain Works
http://www.ascap.com/playback/2011/01/features/limelight.aspx
So what about public domain and what is an event producer to do to show off their work without landing behind bars?
We checked in with our Picture Editor Garth Grinde.
Garth: "Even with music in the public domain, published before 1923, you still have to figure out whether the recording is newer. Any public domain song recorded after 1923 is still protected by Master Rights. And if the original piece is updated and altered, it may no longer fall under public domain at all!
I suggest to my clients to compose and create! It is really easy these days to get your very own music. You can find independent composers online or find unique pieces on SoundCloud that you can obtain easily. It is your safest bet.
If you are using the event sound, keep your video postings private and password protected. This way it is clear that you have no intention of gaining profits off the recording. Should anyone come after you, you can prove that the video is only a demonstration and you did not make money with the music.
And most importantly: when you negotiate the contract with your talent, negotiate the demonstration rights upfront so you have it in the contract that you can use their performance for any promotional purposes!"
Yes, a simple sizzle reel can cause a lot of trouble.
We recently received a warning from Vimeo - and we are now dotting "i"s and crossing "t"s.
We hope this information is helpful to you!
Did we get your attention?
What we are talking about is a specific niche in overall copyright law: the soundtrack of your event sizzle reel. You produce a gorgeous affair, Your video team is taping hours of footage. You edit an exciting few minutes, showing decor, costumes, location, catering and entertainment to promote and demonstrate your work and place the video on your YouTube or Vimeo channel. More often than not we use the native sound, i.e. the band's stage performance audio on the reel. In some cases, we use another song on the soundtrack.
So what rights do we have to worry about?
Record companies and copyright companies have developed software that allows them to find the most obscure video and its soundtrack. And they will come after you if you violate any copyrights.
And there are different rights to worry about: Master Rights, Synchronization Rights, Publishing Rights.
A number of notions are floating around, such as "fair use", "public domain" and "promotional use" and alike. It's confusing and possibly costly in consequences.
So we decided to investigate the situation and bring you a comprehensive fact sheet.
We contacted the United States Copyright Office (http://www.copyright.gov/) by telephone.
Botttomline: "fair use" is a legal argument that does not even come into play until you are standing in front of a judge!
If you use any copyrighted material, you have to figure out which copyrights apply, who owns them and negotiate the right to use it.
The fact that you paid the copyrights for the night of the performance does not include the right to copy the work on video and distribute it.
Next we contacted ASCAP and the Recording Industry Association of America to see whether the argument that we are just promoting our own work and not making money off these recordings or performances with these videos make any difference.
The answer is a resounding "No".
ASCAP published a very useful tip sheet to help everyone obtain necessary rights:
How You Can Clear Cover Songs, Samples, and Handle Public Domain Works
http://www.ascap.com/playback/2011/01/features/limelight.aspx
So what about public domain and what is an event producer to do to show off their work without landing behind bars?
We checked in with our Picture Editor Garth Grinde.
Garth: "Even with music in the public domain, published before 1923, you still have to figure out whether the recording is newer. Any public domain song recorded after 1923 is still protected by Master Rights. And if the original piece is updated and altered, it may no longer fall under public domain at all!
I suggest to my clients to compose and create! It is really easy these days to get your very own music. You can find independent composers online or find unique pieces on SoundCloud that you can obtain easily. It is your safest bet.
If you are using the event sound, keep your video postings private and password protected. This way it is clear that you have no intention of gaining profits off the recording. Should anyone come after you, you can prove that the video is only a demonstration and you did not make money with the music.
And most importantly: when you negotiate the contract with your talent, negotiate the demonstration rights upfront so you have it in the contract that you can use their performance for any promotional purposes!"
Yes, a simple sizzle reel can cause a lot of trouble.
We recently received a warning from Vimeo - and we are now dotting "i"s and crossing "t"s.
We hope this information is helpful to you!
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