Authorising to use copyright

[josel]

Hi all.
I am wanting to put music to home made movies, I edit them and am wanting to put soundtracks on the footage. I then put it onto DVD and charge my customers.
So how to I get round the copy right laws of using music say from a pop band? Or is their any fee you can pay to limit how many music tracks you can use in a year?

Cheers Josel

[Richard_G]

As you are in the UK, you need to contact either the Performing Rights Society (www.prs.co.uk) or the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (http://www.mcps.co.uk/) depending on whether you are using a re-recorded version of copyrighted music or an original. Thefees depend on what you are using the music for and approximately how many copies you will be making and selling.

[josel]

cheers Richard

[Bjs]

Richard_G is correct as far as music from perfoming artist's is concerned , but there is one thing you might be interested in .

Midi tune's , as created by fast tracker's .

They still hold competition's yearly as people convert popular tune's into midi format .

Just do a search on fast tracker's or midi tune's should turn up a healthy stack of tune's you can use for free ... some are quite good ... and catchy ... just watch out for that disease ... the one where you find yourself humming it every now and then .

A good cure for that is a staple gun to the head ... work's every time .

I have over 2000 of them in a collection covering all type's , metalica , pop , jazz , techno ...

[daamon]

As you are in the UK, you need to contact either the Performing Rights Society (www.prs.co.uk) or the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (http://www.mcps.co.uk/) depending on whether you are using a re-recorded version of copyrighted music or an original. Thefees depend on what you are using the music for and approximately how many copies you will be making and selling.

@ Bjs: Do you know of any equivalent bodies in Australia? I'm toying with the idea of doing wedding videos as a paid hobby, and I'd like to use audio tracks from CDs belonging to the client - but this is still breach of copyright unless some fee is paid.

[Richard_G]

They still hold competition's yearly as people convert popular tune's into midi format .

Even if a tune is converted to midi format, it is classed as a re-recording and royalties are still payable to the original author(s) of the music. Agreed,it rarely happens but strictly speaking still would need to be declared. It is the same if a small section or sample is used in a different track, the original author and performer of the sampled track will often go to court to get their cut!

@daamon If nobody comes up with the answer, try emailing PRS in the UK, they should be able to put you in touch with the equivalent organisation in Oz. Just remember, it's still yesterday here,,,,,

[yoda313]

One other note is that midi is not an acceptable dvd audio format. You'd have to convert it to wave or ac3 some how. You could output it to a cd recorder or another pc and record as wav and then use that to author the dvd.

However you still have the copyright issue to resolve. Better to acquire the rights for the acutal real song. Good luck.

[daamon]

@daamon If nobody comes up with the answer, try emailing PRS in the UK, they should be able to put you in touch with the equivalent organisation in Oz.

Cheers, that's a good idea.

Just remember, it's still yesterday here,,,,,

Ha ha ha Depending on who's summertime it is, it's either 9 or 11 hours ahead here...

This site comes in handy...

[Richard_G]

Not bloody summertime here! Just been to collect my daughter from a nightclub and had to scrape the frost off the windscreen first. My thermometer tells me it's currently -1.1 degress C outside.