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**I need info on Music Licensing and its Penalties**
Posts: 1554
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Karma: 1,103
Hey everybody,
So recently a friend in the film industry that has been watching myself and the rest of the Shadow Puppet Collective grow, called me to warn me that "I'm playing with fire" by using music without a license in things ranging from webisodes to full films. However, I am wildly uneducated on music licenses and the penalties concerned with them, and was hoping someone on NS could shed some knowledge on these subjects.
First off, I understand that if I was actually distributing dvd's I would really need licenses for the music I was using; however, how dangerous is it for me to be doing occasional movie premieres in which I profit, but am still on very much the amateur level?
Secondly, where do webisodes stand regarding movie licenses? They are for free online, can you still get in trouble?
Finally, where does 'creative commons' type music stand.... or to better phrase that, is there some music that you can use without a license. For example, Pretty Lights lets you download music for free off his website, does that mean you can use it without a license? A slightly different example would be the creative commons section on t61.
If anyone has any information please help me understand this all!
Thanks so much NS
Matt Mulligan
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yeah i'm starting to wonder what limitations to watch for when using music.
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I always thought that if you aren't selling it that it is fine, but I would also like to know
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Any unauthorized use of copyrighted music is illegal.
As technology develops I think we will see more web crawlers looking for songs being used all over the web. If music labels get greedy enough they might just start filling lawsuits against producers left and right. Get away with it while you can I guess.
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if you are profiting then you CANNOT use music unless you have permission. if you are not making profit then you are allowed to use it due to the fair use act or whatveer its called. anytime your video gets taken off youtube for music rights, file a claime and say its under fair use and they revoke it.
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Posts: 1554
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^ immensely helpful!
thanks everybody who's provided information, I think I'm getting a slightly better grasp on all this...
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^^
great post, super helpful
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if bands/musicians stumbled upon the ski/snowboard industry they would hit a fucking goldmine. so many movies dont have their music licensed. FODT's the Arena is a major film that comes to mind.
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Ive had to get permission to use songs before from Fat Cat Records. If you arent making a profit on whatever you are using the song in, most likey the bands manager and the label will be perfectly okay with you using the song. If you are making a profit then contracts have to be established.
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