copywright Question

[Lukky]

I am doing some photography. I am wanting to put together picture videos for my weddings to sell afterwards. How would I go about purchasing copywrights for the music. I know there is free stuff out there but that is not what people want. They want the latest jam or some old classic. Can I just buy them from Itunes for each dvd that I reproduce? Shurley there is an easier way.

Thanks Dustin

[stevegoad]

You don't actually purchase copyrights, you just get permission to use them.

Usually you need to contact the owners of the music, pay standard royalities.

Honestly, it is a tricky thing, and difficult to get permission at all, especially since you want to sell them.

If your really want to do this, and you really want to sell them, contact ASCAP or BMI to ask questions... some of them might get you going.

[cmchamp]

Actually, it's much more complicated.
What you're looking to obtain are Sequencing Rights.
Were you simply providing an audio recording, those would be Mechanical Rights. However, since you are syncing the audio recording to any visual presentation, even a stagnant picture, this is Sequencing Rights, and they are much more difficult to obtain, and possibly much more expensive.
Do some homework by calling Copyright houses such as the Sam Fox Agency to find out what the process of obtaining those sequencing rights or making a music video.

I have not read the following .pdf file, but came across it in a Google™ search.

www.streaming21.com/xpdf/CopyrightDigMed.pdf

Anything that seems cost prohibitive, pass the cost along to the client. Do not, under any circumstances, think that it is legal for the client to provide you the music without the proper legal permission. It is breach of Copyright, even if the client owns the CD.

I am not a lawyer, I don't play one on TV, I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express™ last night, but I do teach in a public school and am on an advisory committee for a Video/Audio Broadcast Arts program.

C.

[WORDpictures]

Greatly simplified - only use buyout music. Even using original compositions can get tied up with legal jargon regarding release forms and third party agencies - past, present or future. Almost any popularly recognized song will be neither economically feasible nor worth the time-consuming process and delays to procure legal rights. You might track down a few legal options from which a wedding client could select. For example, I have a buyout copy of Pachelbel's popular wedding classic, Canon in D Major.

Majority of wedding clients won't understand or care whether you're operating legally or not.