Need copyright advice.... movie soundtrack

[Joe Cole]

Hello all,

 

Here is my situation. A friend of mine is producing an independent film. A mutual friend of ours asked me to submit a few songs for the heck of it. But, I had to do it quick.

 

I dug out two old tracks, a recently finished track that my wife wrote, and I cobbled together a quick heavy track. I sent them 1 minute mp3 edits of each song.

 

Last night I got the call. They want to use all four tracks in the trailer, and most probably in the movie too. I was honestly blown away. They want the last track (which I put together in 2 hours, writing, tracking, editing, and mixing) to open the trailer!

 

They do not have the budget to pay me, which I honestly do not care, and I was not surprised. I do not count on music or production to put bread on my family's table.

 

Now, here are the questions.

 

1- I will be using the poor mans copyright by sending myself the tracks on cd by registered mail. What else needs to be in that envelope? Is this valid for international releases?

 

2- While I do not expect to make a dime from this, I would kick myself if it ever became a cult film that goes on to gross real money and I do not get something out of it (besides all the recognition ).

 

I am a complete virgin regarding publishing and author rights. Help me out.

 

Thanks

[techristian]

1- I will be using the poor mans copyright by sending myself the tracks on cd by registered mail.

You should have done that BEFORE you sent them your stuff. I don't trust that. It would only cost $30 to copyright all of the songs TOGETHER.

 

All of your questions should be answered at http://www.copyright.gov/

 

You should file FORM SR .

 

Dan

[Joe Cole]

Hey Dan...

 

I did not send them anything complete, just a verse and chorus of each. And in mp3 format.

 

Thanks for the link.

[theblue1]

Yeah. A poor man's copyright "proof" like a registered letter is worth more than nothing, but not necessarily a whole lot more. (Of course, you're work is "copyrighted" as soon as it's published (written down).

 

Registering your copyright with the copyright office is the best way to help protect it (although there are other systems, such as the Common License system and other 'open-source' oriented systems. Even with those, some folks use conventional registration as well.

 

 

Since your primary concern is protection -- rather than marketing licensing of your works -- you could achieve effective protection by submitting the works in question (and any othe works you want to register) as part of a larger work, song cycle, etc.

 

In the event you needed to license an individual song (for, say, publishing, recording, commercial use etc), you'd still need to break it out and register it as a standalone work.

 

But for the interim, your work would have the protection of having been registered as part of your larger work on such and such a date.

[GY]

Your comments are contradictory.

 

They do not have the budget to pay me, which I honestly do not care, and I was not surprised.

 

While I do not expect to make a dime from this, I would kick myself if it ever became a cult film that goes on to gross real money and I do not get something out of it (besides all the recognition).

 

First of all, figure out if you care or not. If you care, ask them to spell out in detail how they intend to use your material in writing. If they baulk, don't waste your time. They'll get something free from someone else.

 

Otherwise, let them exploit you sit back and enjoy it!

[InstituteOfNoise]

Absolutely file the songs with the copyright office.

 

Even if you aren't paid a Sync fee up front, you should still get a Master Use Agreement that they have the right to use your music.

 

Finally request a Cue Sheet. This specifies where in the movie your songs are played and should it ever get to cable or overseas you can collect performance royalties. You file the Cue Sheet with your Song filings to ASCAP or BMI so they can track it when and if it plays.

[Joe Cole]

Originally posted by GY:

Your comments are contradictory.

 

They do not have the budget to pay me, which I honestly do not care, and I was not surprised.

 

While I do not expect to make a dime from this, I would kick myself if it ever became a cult film that goes on to gross real money and I do not get something out of it (besides all the recognition).

 

First of all, figure out if you care or not. If you care, ask them to spell out in detail how they intend to use your material in writing. If they baulk, don't waste your time. They'll get something free from someone else.

 

Otherwise, let them exploit you sit back and enjoy it!

GY, I was just being honest. The recognition comment was just an attempt at humor.

 

As for figuring out if I care or not.. I will make it clear to you, I care.

 

If your note was just in good humor and slightly tongue-in-cheek, thanks for taking the time.

[Mats Olsson.]

Some suggestions:

 

1. Make an agreement that entitles you to compensation if/when the film breaks even.

 

2. Make an agreement that gives you compensation if they release/license a soundtrack album.

 

3. Make sure you get visible credits in the film.

 

4. Pray that this movie will become a box office hit!

[Brittanylips]

You own the copyright as soon as you write the songs, and sending them to yourself or registering, is just an insurance policy. It doesn't matter that you sent the songs to them without registering first.

 

Nice to have the insurance policy of a registration, but it doesn't make your copyright any more your copyright.

 

That's a different issue than a simple agreement which is far more important, and will not seem off-putting.

 

Write a simple letter and have the producer sign it. The letter should state what's going on, for example:

 

Dear so and so, I agree to give you a non-exclusive, royalty-free liscence for you to incorporate my songs X, y, z, in your film for ever. This is not work for hire; I retain the copyrights to all my music. Should the movie ever make money, we will renegotiate our agreement.

 

Or be more specific, e.g. I give you a non-exclusive royalty-free liscence in return for X dollars, and the right to renegotiate our arrangement if the film makes money

 

Or spell out an arrangment in the letter that compensates you for your work if the film grosses above a certain amount.

 

But whatever you do, you should have the letter that confirms your retention of your copyrights, and that the agreement with the filmaker is non-exclusive.

 

Mats also makes a good point about securing credit in the credits. Include that in the letter, e.g. you will include my contribution in the front (or back) credits in the following way.... etc.

 

-Peace, Love, and Brittanylips

[daddyelmis]

and so beginneth the slippery slope. Once you start down the written agreement road (which I could not more strongly agree with or endorse), you have to figure out which issues you do and don't care about -- this weighing against having a short or long agreement.

 

Be clear on the points that Brittanylips indicates. I would be clear that the license is for use in the movie entitled "X" and its promotional trailers, and not for any other use including any sequels, compilations, excerpts, etc.

 

And I would require credit in the film, and be clear where in the credits run you get it and what it says. As for money -- this is really, really hard for a simple agreement on a film that will likely make no money and for which you are not being paid up front. Setting up some type of future profits provision is difficult -- and "agreeing to agree" to negoitate in the future isn't worth much, legally.