Advertising Video and Music Copyrights

Are you making money? is it just going online?

I am being paid for the ad and it is only going to be embedded on their website from youtube or vimeo. I suppose one way around this would be to no accept payment.. but..

Honestly, if its just going to be online its probably nbd. It might get muted on youtube, but vimeo wont do anything. I honestly wouldn't worry about it, especially since its for a local business. Worst come to worst, you will get it taken down, no one is gonna sue you for an online video. They can't prove you got paid really and even if they could the company could just claim the owner made it or something, you wont get sued.

Thanks yo, helpful to have advice from people who know what they are doing.

I'd be careful using music without permission. I've had a good number of videos flagged and taken down on YouTube for copyright issues. If the video goes down, the company who paid for it will be contacting you to get it back up. That's more hassle on your end.

Try license free sites like istockphoto.com, etc. There you can buy license-free audio and use that in videos for which you get paid. It won't be "brand name" music but there are some decent tunes on there that can fit a pretty wide range of possibilities.

If you're dead set on using the Arcade Fire, email them/their manager(s) and tell them about your situation and ask for permission. See if there's anything on their website about use and permission. I've had contact with a number of managers and artists about this and they're always helpful, even if I don't get the answer I want. At least at that point you know where you stand.

This was my original plan but their info is hard to find. I've tried emailing 2 different sources and they both said they didn't deal with the band or management directly. The istockphoto is a great tip, I'll check that out. Thanks for the info!

Or dont use YouTube.

But the company may request YouTube. I'm speculating situational conditions here but the company may have a YouTube channel that they want to air the video on. YouTube opens up many new demographics of viewers so I am never surprised when my suggestions for hosting on Vimeo are ignored, with the only hosting "requirement" being YouTube.

Most situations before I start editing I ask the company if they have any music in mind and bring up the copyright issue. Kind of make it their call before I even start. Most times they are happy to risk the music issues in order to get the exact song we are looking for.