Using Copyrighted Music in You Production.

When you use music in a project, you have to consider who owns the misic. There are limitations on its use, and charges too.

WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?
‘Copyright’ is the term given to the legal right of an owner of a material, to allow it’s usage or reproduction to be carried out ONLY upon the consent of the (copyright) holder.

In this country, a copyright is obtained by the owner of a material through the UK Copyright Centre.

In the UK, there are limited conditions whereas a copyrighted piece of music that can be heard in your production, does not require a license. This is known as 'Fair usage'. Good examples of Fair usage policy are;

* Passers-by mobile phone ring – tone.

*Music from car stereos being heard in the back-
- ground.
Even if you are fairly sure that copyrighted music that appears in your production, is doing so under the Fair Use laws, it is normally a good idea to eliminate/minimilize the offending material. Especially if the production is getting a 'proper' release. There have been case where publishers have fought 'tooth and nail' in cases where fair usage was assumed by the producers.

The following points, I have written under the assumption that the music was to be used in a DVD, that will be Sold in UK shops.

*What are the steps involved in licensing music

The process of licensing begins with extensive research into the ownership of the composition and/or the actual recording you are contemplating using.The materials packaging (album cover for example) will list the ‘performance rights’ organisation that it is signed to, such as B.M.I or ASCAP. The performance rights organisation do not control the copyrights, but they will tell you who do.
Once you have got this information, and are certain what type of license you require – the process of negotiation with the copyright owners can begin.
Once a price has been agreed between both parties, contracts will be drawn up and will need to be signed. It is important at this stage to seek legal advice if needed, as it is very difficult to go back once you have signed!

*If you wanted to reduce your costs legally, what might you do?

I have three suggestions that could help me reduce the costs of the music for my DVD production.
Copyleft: Copyleft is a type of licensing where the owner of a piece of material allows it to be used by another individual without the need for purchasing a license. There are several different types of copyleft licenses - each allowing the license owner/licensee different permissions/rights.
The most commonly found type of Copyleft-licensed music allows the material in question to be used in whole or part, and can be manipulated without limitation. However, the end result/final product which contains the 'Copylefted' material, must in turn, be released under the Copyleft standard itself.
http://www.copyleft-music.com/ is a very popular online 'dump site' of music of many musical genres.

Production Music: "Production Music" is the term given to music that is owned by production music libraries and licensed out to customers to be used in projects at a very reasonable price. PML's tend to own ALL the copyrights to the materials they hold, this allows them to license the music out without obtaining permission from the original composer first.
Production Music Libraries offer a massive amount of variety of musical styles and genres, and tends to be listed as both music type, and 'emotion' (such as 'sad' or 'action') - this allow the producer to quickly source music that is suitable for the project - and at a good price.
There are many, many websites specialising in production music, here are the links to some of the most popular;
http://www.ibaudio.com

http://www.audiolicense.net

http://www.royalty-free.tv/

Self compose : A way of dramatically reducing your music royalty costs,would be to produce the music in-house via your production team. Computer - based music production is much more readily available to the masses thanks to the reduction in price of powerful CPU's. It is very possible to compose and produce a music track(s) to a high standard with nothing more than a mid-range computer and soundcard.

*Which course of action would you pursue, and why?

Of the above suggestions, the only one I definitely wouldn't use, would be the 'Copyleft' license. This is because the scenario states that the DVD is to be SOLD. If I was to use this system I would not be able to release the DVD and be able to hold a Copyright over it - it would have to be released under Copyleft.
I think that if I was in this situation, then I personally would use a mixture of the other two suggestions that I posted above. I have enough experience with computer based music production packages to be able to arrange, produce and master a lot of material. The range of excellent free sample discs on the market would allow me to compose a track, without even having to be able to play an instrument.
To commit yourself to producing the entire soundtrack to a DVD is a massive undertaking. That is why I think I would make use of Music Production Libraries in conjunction with my own creations. It is also important to remember that all the time you are creating your own soundtrack, you are taking away time that could be spent on other aspects of the production - "Time is Money". It may very well work out cheaper to source a production music track for my DVD than it would be to take the time in making my own.