Copyright-Songs in Video

[zaree77]

I want to venture into the wedding videography. I am a freelancer. I need to place popular songs into the video for the couple's private viewing.

(1) How do I go about it with regards to copyright?
(2) What are the issues involved?

[Hobbes00]

Welcome to the club, as a freelancer you're less at risk from being gunned down.
Reason being, it'll cost alot of time and money to process the paper work, document evidence and then send you a legal letter.

(1) You don't go about it. You just act ignorant
(2) You get sued if you have alot of time and money
(3) Some of us just don't use it. You could also try saying its for either.. School, best-friend, close-friend or just testing your editing skills =)

It is WRONG to use copyright music!!! by right.

[vince123123]

The only surefire way to "escape" is not to use it.

If you're using, you probably need to obtain a license to do so. Apparently COMPASS represents these rights owners - but its good to find out if they really represent the owners of hte song you want to use.

THe last time I asked COMPASS for a list of songs and rights owners they represent, they were very evasive on the phone, and when I asked further, they asked me to email. Till today, no response.

I suspect (but cannot be sure) that they may sometimes be collecting $$ for songs for which they may not have the rights to represent. This is pure speculation, but I notice that people who use songs and pay COMPASS without question, dont really ask whether COMPASS has the representative rights. So do be aware of this issue.

If COMPASS, or any other body to which you paid fees, dont have the representative rights, what this means is that you've paid for nothing, and not only that, it also means that you are still infringing the copyright of the relevant parties.

[engr]

in theory, as long as u make money by using the music, u will need to pay copyright. However the application channels are vague, so it is very difficult to avoid. Unless u can make yr own music or buy a lot of royalty free music, I'm not sure how else one can aviod using mainstream songs.

Its a dilemma that a lot of folks face... hopefully the music companies can come up with something reasonable. In fact I wonder how TCs does it.. they use a lot of songs in their trailers, they must have some kinda blanket agreement. But small timers like us would not even have the chance to find out who to talk to!

[zaree77]

Here is what i got ...an email from ipos.... what's ur feedback on ths?

"Consent is needed to do anything that only the copyright owner has theexclusive right to do (e.g. reproduce the work). Sometimes, consent isindicated in the terms of permitted use, e.g. "for Private Use Only".Otherwise, one should seek consent. Merely acknowledging the source whenone uses the work is insufficient. To obtain consent from copyright owners, one may: contact the copyright owners directly and negotiate for a licence to usethe copyright material; orobtain a licence through a collective society.A collective society is an organisation that administers the rights of agroup of copyright owners. It can grant consent for use of the works of itsmembers under specific conditions. The following are collective societiesin Singapore:Composers and Authors Society of Singapore LtdThe Copyright Licensing and Administration Society of Singapore LtdMusic Publishers (S) LtdRecording Industry Performance Singapore Pte LtdInnoForm Entertainment Pte LtdFor more information, please refer to Seeking Permission from CollectiveSocieties."

[vince123123]

Hmm, wasn't that more or less what was discussed above?

[zaree77]

agree.. but what are the possibilities that we as small timers freelancer kena from copyright issues?

[tchoonyong]

Originally Posted by zaree77 agree.. but what are the possibilities that we as small timers freelancer kena from copyright issues?

so far as what i know sueing are for richies. Meaning if they try sueing you without getting money out of u what's the point. Anyway i created my own music using loops. Those loops from apple have attained royalties right so not an issues. so even if you put in editing they cannot sue you but your friends may not like it. then you may have to explain to them about the issues. Let them understand that putting pop musics as backgnd musics will infringed the copyrights.

[shinken]

Originally Posted by tchoonyong so far as what i know sueing are for richies. Meaning if they try sueing you without getting money out of u what's the point. Anyway i created my own music using loops. Those loops from apple have attained royalties right so not an issues. so even if you put in editing they cannot sue you but your friends may not like it. then you may have to explain to them about the issues. Let them understand that putting pop musics as backgnd musics will infringed the copyrights.

Can I humbly urge that forumers here stop perpetuating these hearsays? We have a company in SG called Odex who had threatened to sue even 9 year old kids for downloading anime. Yes, it's a different legal scenario, but my point is to oust the hearsay that only the rich or corporates gets sued. Seeing so many of these posts is worrying. And it might be enough motivation for the copyright owners to take action when they read enough of these perpetuating posts to generalise that it's a subculture for videographers to infringe copyrights. It is an individual choice to take the risk to infringe upon copyrights. But egging each other on is a different thing altogether.

[Gombat]

I went to the COMPASS site before a few months back and frankly, I have no regard for them. They have no idea what they are doing and I don't believe i should pay them any fees for whatever rights they claim to hold.

I paid the distributor.

COMPASS is just an association and I don't think they fully represent all artists..... just my 2cents worth.

[zaree77]

How u pay the distributor then? Can u give me your story?

[vince123123]

I totally agree - they have no idea what they are doing. They can't even tell me what rights they hold. I asked for a list of songs and they said to email them. I did and there was no reply.

Who knows if people are paying them for things they shouldn't be paying for.

Originally Posted by Gombat I went to the COMPASS site before a few months back and frankly, I have no regard for them. They have no idea what they are doing and I don't believe i should pay them any fees for whatever rights they claim to hold. I paid the distributor. COMPASS is just an association and I don't think they fully represent all artists..... just my 2cents worth.

[engr]

so how can the disty be paid?? wat r the fees like for wedding video use?

[chngpe01]

Originally Posted by zaree77 I want to venture into the wedding videography. I am a freelancer. I need to place popular songs into the video for the couple's private viewing. ........ (3) How do you guys do it to escapre from this copyright issue?

A reminder to the TS and all.

Please take note of CS term of use with regards to copyright issues and software piracy

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=63954

"10. Software Piracy - Posting of serial numbers, cracks, warez links or anything related to the piracy of software will not be allowed and will be deleted immediately. Repeated abuse will result in banishment."

The bottomline is that we will not tolerate any discussion on software piracy including ways to infringing copyrights without being caught.

So lets keep the discussion within CS Term of Use.

[Hobbes00]

Go hire a composer and charge your client higher. Some of us here does compose and make our own music.. talk to them.

NO COPYRIGHT MUSIC!

[jaegersing]

Originally Posted by Hobbes00 Go hire a composer and charge your client higher. Some of us here does compose and make our own music.. talk to them. NO COPYRIGHT MUSIC!

Actually, anything we create also has copyright, the problem is that if it is unpublished it can be difficult to prove who is the originator. If you can prove that you created it first, the copyright would be enforcable. Also applies to film scripts by the way.

[tommon]

That's why the real pros are whom the public needs to get their productions done.

Freelancers should just partner themselves with productions houses so to protect themselves.

IPR is not a joke. They will fine and jail you regardless of your pleading ignorance.

[SolBadGuy]

Originally Posted by jaegersing Actually, anything we create also has copyright, the problem is that if it is unpublished it can be difficult to prove who is the originator. If you can prove that you created it first, the copyright would be enforcable. Also applies to film scripts by the way.

for film scripts, writers can seek help from Screen Writer's Association.

the other alternative my scriptwriting lecturer mentioned, is to mail the script to yourself. the postmark from the post office serves as the legal binding evidence. only thing to remember here is, the letter must remain sealed, and only in the circumstance when you want to pursue legal action should you present the sealed letter to the courts as evidence.

i suppose the 2nd option can be applied to song composers and writers as well?