How do you get permission to use recorded songs in videos?

[tomld]

I am wondering if there is any feasible way to get legal permission to use a song from a major recording artist in a short home made non-commercial video or permission for a short run commercial video? What's the process to get legal permission and what does it usually cost?

[RDS1955]

Gonna cost a couple a bucks... try here:

http://www.harryfox.com/index.jsp

they license alot of U.S. music for titles under 2500 units...that means if you want to distribute 1,50 or 2500 songs individually on a cd...

[tomld]

thanks for the info, lots of great artists on that site. So are those rates of 8 cents, is that per copy you distribute?

[RDS1955]

I would suspect that's 8 cents per copy....

[lumis]

wow, i could lisence blink 182's "adam's song" for $52 for 500 copies.. 10 cents.. not bad at all..

great link RDS1955

[garryheather]

Have you considered asking the label / artist for permission ?

Some artists allow "soundbites" to be used under certain ciurcumstances free of charge so long as they get a credit on the packaging / disc. If you let them know precisely what the end product will be, they may provide you with an approved snippet FOC in return for a mention and a copy of the final disc for their records.