What are the legal issues involved with incorporating music into a movie? Is an actor playing Bach on the piano ok, or what about someone merely singing a copyrighted song? What's ok and what's illegal?
I'm pretty sure Bach is "Public Domain" now, meaning no one has rights to it, and anyone can use it free of charge.
I'm not sure how exactly singing a 'fresh' song goes - for example Richard Cheese has to pay Eight cents per CD he sells for every song he covers, but I imagine it would be somewhat different for movies. The best way to find out is to track down who has the rights to the exact songs you want, then query them about it - making sure you tell them about the scope of your project, if it'll potentially be in festivals, or if you'll try to sell/distribute it...
Morgneto, Master of Morgnetism
Morgneto, Master of Morgnetism
The Disney Corporation is fighting to extend their right to Mickey Mouse to prevent him becoming available to everyone once the 75 years (or whatever it is) expires.
I should think Bach would be well out of all copyright protection as long as you have someone play it and don't use an existing recording that might be copyrighted.
RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA
RJSchwarz
Music is made up of two copyrights: a) in the composition and b) in the recording. Think of it like this. If you paid for a studio, arrangers, musicians et al and made a recording of a Lennon-McCartney song, you would (with the right release forms) be the owner of the recording, but no way would you have any rights in Lennon-McCartney's song. Now, Bach is definitely in the public domain, but your piano player's version of it is not. You will need his/her contract to cover all musical performances, and arrangements of non-copyright music. You always need paperwork to cover recording and composition. Sorry Zack, most of what you've heard is drastically wrong.
DG
