I’m not a lawyer, just a part-time photographer and occasional slideshow maker that has looked into various licensing issues for my own benefit. Did I know all this a few years ago when I started doing photos and some slideshows for friends? No. But now I know a lot more. Here’s my take on what I’ve been able to find on using recorded music and licensing, I hope this helps people understand the issue better.
There’s a lot of discussion and misunderstanding about what music people can use or share in their slideshows. The bottom line is if you want to legally use a favorite song performed by a particular artist for anything other than your own personal private use, then you need a different license - like for use in a slideshow you need a “master use license” – which has to be obtained from the copyright holder of the recording, and that has to be done for each and every track (song) you want to use. A synchronization license is usually also required. More details later.
When you buy a music CD, or a song from iTunes, etc. – you are only buying a license to use that recording for your own limited private personal use, you don’t own the song. You can’t sell or share that song, or use it in another artistic work – derivative work. You can’t make profit or benefit from that recording (song) in any way, you can only listen to and enjoy the song privately, that's it. You need to get another type of license for other uses. That’s the law (in the U.S. at least), that’s what’s right, and that’s what’s fair. Would I love to pay $.99 for a popular song everyone can connect with and be able to use it any way I want, including making money from it? Sure, but I can’t – and I wouldn’t want anyone doing that with my work either (photographs and slideshows in my case).
For the buyer of the song this may seem wrong. But for the artist, the writer, the performer of the song it is the right thing to do. Would you like other people to get your time, effort, and creativity for free – over and over again, with no benefit to you? Creative artists take a lot of risk in their trade – most may never make a lot of money, if any. There are the one-hit-wonders. Many have a short period of success. A few become superstars. But they all deserve to get paid for their work, ethically and as specified by copyright law – and have their work protected.
I’m always amazed at the people that will ‘share’ software, photos, music, movies, etc. but would never shoplift or steal from work. But that’s what they’re doing when they illegally share or use software, photos, music, movies, etc. I guess that situation tests the honesty of people – stores without walls – and a lot fail. Stealing is stealing. And even here I see people talking about the copyrighted music they’ve used in their slideshows. Ugh…
The scope and complexities of music licensing extend so deeply that if you film a video and there’s music playing in the background of whatever you capture – even though you didn’t play it yourself or initiate the playing of the music, you have to get clearance to include that music in your production. This means you could film a documentary in NYC and someone is playing a radio in the background that happens to be recorded – you need clearance!
Do I think that some of this is a bit too restrictive? Yes. Do I think that since so many people use copyrighted music in slideshows, the record companies should come up with a practical/affordable license and payment system so they could get some money for what people are already using? Yes. Am I going to hold my breath waiting for that to happen? No ! The music we know and love is so powerful, and would make our slideshows so much better and stronger, I do understand the desire to use it. Doing what's right isn't always easy.
Getting back to licensing and the various types, which can be confusing to us non-lawyers…
Payment for use of a copyrighted material is called a royalty. Royalty free music is where a performance, master use, etc. license is obtained but no further payment is required regardless of the number times performed, the number of copies sold, its inclusion in a derivative work, etc. depending on the type of license issued with the music. There may be payment required to obtain the royalty-free license, or simply a credit to the artist given, such as in the creative commons license.
Personal Use License – When you buy a CD or music download, you have a personal use license that only allows you to play the music for yourself and a small, typical amount of friends and/or family in a home setting. Any use beyond this is prohibited, unless another type of license is obtained. To the letter of the law, at least in the U.S., you cannot share the music (musical performance) with anyone else in any way, whether for free or for fee, via any type of media or access including CD/DVD, web, media file, etc. That includes someone buying the music and ‘letting you’ use it for a slideshow for the purchaser. Using the performance (work) of another is a derivative work, and permission to use it in such a way must be obtained (master use license) and any required payment/credit be given.
Commercial use is where you or a company directly or indirectly benefits from the use or sale of your work, or the work of another. The benefit can be financial, in trade for, for publicity, promotion, etc.. A bar playing music to entertain their customers or a photographer playing music in their studio while photographing subjects is commercial use. Something more than a personal use license is required for any type of commercial use.
A derivative work is where you use someone else’s work as part of a work that you create. Using someone else’s music in a slideshow is a derivative work and requires some type of legal permission or license.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_workPerformance License - Allows the use of a copyrighted music and lyrics or a performance by an artist, in a public performance. This does not include using it in your own work/slideshow.
Mechanical License - Allows the use of a copyrighted music and lyrics, when you or a 3rd party you’ve hired perform someone else’s music and lyrics for use in a CD or other recording.
Synchronization License – Allows the use of a copyrighted music and lyrics, when you or a 3rd party you’ve hired perform someone else’s music and lyrics in synchronization with a movie, video, etc. Reading this term’s definition sometimes seems to imply the use of a recording also, which would be what we want to do in our slideshows, but it’s not.
http://musicians.about.com/od/qz/g/synclicensing.htmMaster Use License – What we all wish we could do in our slideshows, easily and cheaply. This is use of a recorded performance by an artist of a musical composition. Permission to use it must come from the copyright holder of the performance, which can be difficult or impossible to obtain. Payment may also be beyond what you could ever imagine. And a synchronization license is usually required also !
http://musicians.about.com/od/ip/g/masterlicense.htmThings like the creative commons license can allow you to use the artist’s recorded performance (master use license) so long as you credit them in your work, like with Kevin MacLeod:
http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/licenses/There are several levels/types of Creative Commons Licenses, it's explained pretty clearly here:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/Here are several links to pages with relevant information on various licenses, uses, payments, etc. There are links on many of the pages to even more information:
http://www.proshowenthusiasts.com/viewt ... f=8&t=8583http://www.proshowenthusiasts.com/viewt ... f=8&t=8758http://www.proshowenthusiasts.com/viewt ... 14&t=14657http://www.proshowenthusiasts.com/viewt ... 14&t=19948http://www.ascap.com/licensing/licensingfaq.aspxhttp://www.ascap.com/licensing/termsdefined.aspxhttp://www.bmi.com/licensing/entry/533606http://www.bmi.com/licensing/faqhttp://www.bmi.com/licensing/entry/busi ... ing_rightshttp://www.songclearance.com/faq/http://www.sesac.com/Licensing/Licensing.aspxhttp://www.sesac.com/Licensing/FAQsGeneral.aspx“If you are using someone's property (song) there is a moral and legal obligation to obtain the owner’s permission. Under the Copyright Law of the United States, anyone who publically performs copyrighted music is required to obtain advanced permission from the copyright owner, or their representative. If you publically perform any copyrighted song without proper authorization you are breaking the law and can be held liable for damages from a minimum of $750 up to a maximum of $150,000 per song played!”
http://www.harryfox.com/public/DigitalLicenseslic.jsp“Please note that HFA licenses do NOT cover the use of existing sound recordings or master recordings, which would be needed for certain types of ringtones. Such Master Use Right in existing sound recordings must be directly cleared with the appropriate copyright owner, usually a record company (label).”
http://www.themusicbridge.com/clearance-and-licensehttp://www.themusicbridge.com/clearance ... ce-primer/http://wordmusic.com/home/copyrighthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_licensing“master use licensing
the licensing of the recording of a musical work to be performed as a soundtrack, bumper, lead-in or background to a motion picture.”
Happy Birthday to You
The song "Happy Birthday to You" is the best known song in the world and generates over $2 million in royalties each year for its copyright owners.[7] The original author of the words to the song is unknown, however, the current owner is AOL Time Warner, who receives licensing revenues through the ASCAP. The music itself was written in 1893, and due to multiple copyright extensions, will remain so until at least 2030. In 1989, when Time Warner first purchased the piece, movie licenses for the song were going from anywhere between “a few thousand” to $50,000.[8]One reason the owner, Birchtree Ltd., decided to sell the copyright ownership was because they did not have a large enough unit dedicated to monitor its usage in new media. This became key in maximizing financial benefit, because previous owners failed to go after those who used the song without license for over 20 years.[7]
Some Royalty Free Music sources, note their licensing information, there can be restrictions and/or conditions:
http://incompetech.com/http://www.jewelbeat.com/https://www.smartsound.com/http://www.digitaljuice.com/http://www.stockmusic.net/ http://www.triplescoopmusic.com/ http://freemusicarchive.org/http://www.pdinfo.com/http://www.theframelocker.com/lockersound.html
Last edited by
greyhoundx on Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:08 pm, edited 3 times in total.