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CHAPTER EIGHT ..... LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS Sooner or later, with your experience in producing home videos, you are going to tackle one for wider viewing. Possibly your wife's pet charity wants a promotional tape, or your neighbor has a tool shop and wants to show prospective clients what he can do. Well, you have the equipment, and the ability, why not make a few bucks. Hey, go to it, more power to you, but use care. When you were shooting the family picnic, and showing it to a few friends, this little matter of the Hagood Hardy record that you used for your sound track would probably not result in a visit from the R.C.M.P. but when you produce something that will be seen publicly, you should become acquainted with the copyright law, and what it can do to you or your client. Articles in the professional video magazines a while back told of an American company that used the music from "Rocky" without permission at a closed company meeting, and were fined seventy five thousand dollars. You would not be popular with whoever had to pay that kind of bill. There are several legal ways to use music in your sound tracks, and if you go professional, you would be wise to use them. Music and other artistic works are copyrighted for a period of at least fifty years after the death of the originator, then they usually enter the public domain and can be freely used. The music of Gilbert and Sullivan is in this category. If you insist on wanting to use modern music by headline artists, you can write and ask permission, but good luck. Most of them think in terms of Hollywood productions, and that one thousand dollar a second budget, and they want top dollar, and who can blame them. If you just want music for your sound track that will compliment the action without taking over the production, there are two ways to go. You can subscribe to a music library, which will provide you with a wide selection of music for either a per use fee, (usually called a needle drop charge) or for a yearly flat rate, (Like about a thousand dollars or so.)
The other choice, and the way I went in my shop, is the buy-out music library. For about one hundred dollars (Canadian) per 1 hour CD you get a lifetime licence for the unlimited use of the music in YOUR OWN PRODUCTIONS. (You can't copy the music and re-sell it.) So there you are. Either way it is cheaper than legal fees. If you need information on either type library you can find it easily on the Internet. |
