#514029 - 05/13/02 05:43 PM
MUSIC CLEARANCE!
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88 KEYS
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Registered: 04/21/01
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(A) Music clearance is a process consisting of:
· Determining what permissions are needed to make use of a piece of music;
· Ascertaining the owner(s) of the music;
· Contacting rights owners and negotiating an appropriate license;
· Administrating written agreements;
· Handling other functions related to use and licensing of music.
Depending on the music use required, the clearance process varies widely. For more information on how this all works, please visit [How Do I Get Music For. . .].
(B) Music is many things to many people – it can entertain, inspire, soothe or motivate us. It can bring a stadium of people to its feet, or put a baby to sleep. For that reason, we all feel a personal connection to the music we know. Music stays with us throughout the years, and can become one of our best lifelong friends – it has value in our culture, our society and in our own lives.
Like most things of value, society has adopted laws to protect the interests of music rights owners. But since music usually becomes valuable only after it is shared with the public, these laws also protect the interests of users of music from unreasonable controls by rights owners.
The best known of these protections is copyright law, which regards music (and other creative works) as a property right, similar to real estate. The owners of this property (known as intellectual property) in the world of music are publishers and record companies, who have the authority to control and grant uses of their music.
For the most part, music owners sell copies of recordings (i.e. records, tapes, CDs) or sheet music to the public. Airplay on radio or through music videos also brings music to audiences.
Once a song or piece of music is heard, there is sometimes an interest by an outside party who would like to it for a secondary purposes, such as a film, commercial, computer chip, or on an oldies album.
Music copyright owners can convey permission for these uses by means of licenses. Therefore, if a desired piece of music is owned by a publisher or record company, music clearance is required in order to get an appropriate license for a permitted purpose.
WAIT -- DO I REALLY NEED MUSIC CLEARANCE?
Clearance is required if you plan to use music for a purpose restricted under copyright law, including:
· Making copies of the music;
· Creating a new work based on existing music
· Distributing copies to the public by sale, rental, lease or lending;
· Performing the music publicly.
Still, there are many cases where music clearance is not required.
Examples include:
· The musical work is in the public domain
· Live performance of music in an ASCAP/BMI/SESAC licensed setting (without sets or costumes);
· Live performance of music in the context of a religious service, in a church, synagogue or other place of worship;
· Use of music in face-to-face classroom teaching;
· Excerpting a limited portion of music for purposes of review or criticism.
The US copyright law includes provisions for fair use, which allows that copyright owners do not always control every use of protected material. To the dismay of many, the law does not set out exactly what a fair use is, leaving it to be worked out between copyright owners, users and the courts.
There's no such thing as 8 BARS FOR FREE!
In order to obtain permission to use a song or recording in a TV show or motion picture, producers must clear synchronization rights. The copyright law gives the creator or copyright owner absolute authority to grant these rights, therefore the process of clearing sync rights is: Not Automatic. Not Compulsory. Not Instantaneous. Completely Negotiable. This is not the time to be dealing with amateurs.
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Public Domain (or PD, for short) is probably the most controversial and misunderstood topics in copyright, with enough contention and debate to fill several doctoral theses.
Here are the highlights:
What is the PD?:
What cannot be claimed as private property under copyright law is considered to be public domain. Therefore, a public domain work has to be defined by the protections that no longer cover it. Since these protections are in flux, extreme care must be taken before claiming something is in the public domain.
United States Copyright law, as of 1976, sets public domain at 50 years after the death of the last surviving author, but this only pertains to works created after 1978. In reality, we are still very much in the era of the 1909 law, which protects works up to 75 years from date of publication. The protections of the 1909 law will therefore be with us through the year 2052. Further, keep in mind that the US law is only valid in the United States.
Determining Public Domain status would appear to be a relatively simple matter in the United States; simply add 75 years to the original date of publication (see pitfalls below).
Here are some common public domain pitfalls:
Protected Editions.
The songs of Steven Foster are in the public domain, but if taken from a book published in 1970, you will be infringing the copyright of the book publisher. The source, as well as the work, must both be in the public domain prior to use.
Protected Musical Arrangements.
The folksong "LITTLE BROWN JUG" is public domain in is original form, but the Glenn Miller swing version is fully protected by copyright.
Recordings:
Mozart is in the Worldwide public domain, but taking music from a brand-new digital CD performance infringes the copyright of the record company.
88 KEYS
http://www.music-depot.net
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#514030 - 05/14/02 01:24 AM
Re: MUSIC CLEARANCE!
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Skip_dup1
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Registered: 03/21/01
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Loc: Griffin,GA,UNITED STATES
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88 Keys-
Thanks for spelling this stuff out-there`s a ton of confusion about it, even on my part and I`m a copyright holder!
One thing I`ve never been clear about-you mentioned copyrights held by publishing companies. Is this similar to the situation with written work? The company can grant limited rights, similar to syndication or serial rights?
This is strictly PA stuff, entirely aside from recording, yes? so why does the publishing company hold the copyright and not the author?
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#514031 - 05/14/02 02:36 PM
Re: MUSIC CLEARANCE!
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Christopher
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Registered: 02/23/02
Posts: 319
Loc: ,,UNITED STATES
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Originally posted by skip:
88 Keys-
Thanks for spelling this stuff out-there`s a ton of confusion about it, even on my part and I`m a copyright holder!
One thing I`ve never been clear about-you mentioned copyrights held by publishing companies. Is this similar to the situation with written work? The company can grant limited rights, similar to syndication or serial rights?
This is strictly PA stuff, entirely aside from recording, yes? so why does the publishing company hold the copyright and not the author?
If you're asking why an individual songwriter would bother setting up his or her own vest-pocket (one-man) publishing company and transfer those copyrights to the company, the answer is (1) the publishing company, rather than the invidual writer, assumes the risks and liabilities that come from licensing the songs, so the writer's personal assets are protected in case a licensee decides to sue; and (2) the corporate form forces the writer (or his/her accountant) to spell out what his responsibilities and bookkeeping procedures will be.
BTW, the current copyright term is 70 years after the death of the author.
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#514032 - 05/15/02 05:44 AM
Re: MUSIC CLEARANCE!
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Skip_dup1
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Registered: 03/21/01
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Originally posted by Christopher: Originally posted by skip:
88 Keys-
Thanks for spelling this stuff out-there`s a ton of confusion about it, even on my part and I`m a copyright holder!
One thing I`ve never been clear about-you mentioned copyrights held by publishing companies. Is this similar to the situation with written work? The company can grant limited rights, similar to syndication or serial rights?
This is strictly PA stuff, entirely aside from recording, yes? so why does the publishing company hold the copyright and not the author?
If you're asking why an individual songwriter would bother setting up his or her own vest-pocket (one-man) publishing company and transfer those copyrights to the company, the answer is (1) the publishing company, rather than the invidual writer, assumes the risks and liabilities that come from licensing the songs, so the writer's personal assets are protected in case a licensee decides to sue; and (2) the corporate form forces the writer (or his/her accountant) to spell out what his responsibilities and bookkeeping procedures will be.
BTW, the current copyright term is 70 years after the death of the author.
Isn`t that like the guy who fell through a skylight during a burglary, and sued the building owner for an unsafe facility? Well not quite, but what would prompt a licensee to sue? aren`t they the ones being granted permission to use an original song for profit?
also, if the copyright term is 70 years, why is every 60s song now on a car commercial? Even a fair number of 70s stuff.
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#514033 - 05/15/02 06:29 PM
Re: MUSIC CLEARANCE!
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Christopher
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Registered: 02/23/02
Posts: 319
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Originally posted by skip:
In case the licensee decides to sue?
Isn`t that like the guy who fell through a skylight during a burglary, and sued the building owner for an unsafe facility? Well not quite, but what would prompt a licensee to sue? aren`t they the ones being granted permission to use an original song for profit?
Copyright licenses are what's known as executory contracts, which means that mutual obligations continue for the length of the license term. It's not a one-time thing where two parties exchange stuff and part ways, never to see each other again.
also, if the copyright term is 70 years, why is every 60s song now on a car commercial? Even a fair number of 70s stuff.
As for why those songs are on every car commercial, the answer is (1) the ad agency has to license those songs; and (2) apart from Mitsubishi's admen, ad agencies are pretty unimaginative in their choice of music for car commercials.
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#514034 - 05/15/02 11:37 PM
Re: MUSIC CLEARANCE!
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Skip_dup1
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Christopher
The reason for my question about term of copyright is that, when some well-known rock songs started showing up on TV ads, some of the authors made a big fuss about it, as in, `this is an anthem against crass commercialism and here it is on a commercial, that sucks...`, etc. But now it seems to be happening all the time without much protest.
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#514035 - 05/16/02 01:55 AM
Re: MUSIC CLEARANCE!
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Christopher
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Posts: 319
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Yup. The people who once railed against selling out are now selling out. I don't have a problem with that. In view of the the 1001 ways the industry rips of artists and composers, the best way to rebel against the man is to...make money.
The times, they are a-changin'! 
BTW, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, co-authors of a song are free to license it over the protests of the other co-authors, so long as they give the protesting co-authors their share of the profits.
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#514036 - 05/16/02 08:13 AM
Re: MUSIC CLEARANCE!
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Skip_dup1
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I suppose so-but if you`re inside the city walls, you can`t really claim to be waiting for them to fall, ya? still, good info.
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#514037 - 05/23/02 10:05 PM
Re: MUSIC CLEARANCE!
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D_dup3
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Registered: 11/16/01
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Loc: Tucson,AZ,UNITED STATES
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Originally posted by skip:
... when some well-known rock songs started showing up on TV ads, some of the authors made a big fuss about it, as in, `this is an anthem against crass commercialism and here it is on a commercial, that sucks...`, etc. But now it seems to be happening all the time without much protest.
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#514038 - 05/24/02 02:27 AM
Re: MUSIC CLEARANCE!
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fantasticsound
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Registered: 04/07/01
Posts: 16644
Loc: Madison,TN, UNITED STATES
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Originally posted by skip:
Christopher
The reason for my question about term of copyright is that, when some well-known rock songs started showing up on TV ads, some of the authors made a big fuss about it, as in, `this is an anthem against crass commercialism and here it is on a commercial, that sucks...`, etc. But now it seems to be happening all the time without much protest. 
I personally could have done without Whitney Houston overdoing, "I Will Always Love You," in The Bodyguard. Dolly Parton, however, was happy to raise and lower her arm with a big, "Cha-CHING!" as the money rolled in again for that song. More power to her.
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