Great question and something I think not discussed enough. There seems to be a
don't ask don't tell attitude to this issue. My experience with local film
festivals & screenings has led me to believe that most festivals don't care
whether you've got the rights to songs or video clips. As long as you claim
you've got the rights when you submit they don't worry. I've seen short films
made on a shoe string that have used music from bands as famous as Elvis, The
Beach Boys, Black Sabbath and The Beatles to name a few. I'm positive the
filmmakers did not clear the rights.
In my own experience I usually use original music or obtain rights from local
musicians. But I did use a public domain song for a film of mine a few years
back. When I was researching public domain songs in the U.S. it seemed that a
lot of this material is squatted on by various companies who may or may not
have the copyright but will vigorously go after any violation. Because of that
it seemed the practice was such that professional film company's would pay them
for the rights as a way of protecting themselves.
I settled on using a classical Beethoven song recorded in the 1930s and
obtained on a well known public domain publishing label in Canada. At the time
it was public domain in Canada and Europe but not the U.S. I decided to go
ahead with using it as I lacked the money to get a U.S. clear song and since I
had no expectations of the film ever being sold or broadcast. As long as I was
clear in my own country I felt I would be fine. The song was looped in parts,
edited in other parts and digitally cleaned up by a friend.
After a modest festival run it sat on the shelf until I decided to post it on
YouTube last year. In the years since, the public domain status of that
recording has changed in the EU and is no longer in the PD. I got flagged on
YouTube by a company in Austria claiming copyright on the song. Since PD status
can be easily changed in one country and not another, I will probably not ever
risk using a song in the PD again in any major work. Unless its something very
unique it seems like too much hassle.
However, as recent interests have drawn me to explore using locally shot 8mm &
16mm home movies and other found footage for a local history film I'm planning.
I might soon have to explore the legal issues of using found film.
John
________________________________
From: Matěj Strnad <matej.str...@gmail.com>
To: frameworks@jonasmekasfilms.com
Sent: Sunday, January 6, 2013 4:02:17 AM
Subject: [Frameworks] copyrighted music in underground/experimental/avant-garde
cinema
Dear Frameworkers,
I have a daring question regarding your experience with screening but
especially publishing of experimental film/video works which feature
copyrighted music.
With today's level of copyright-crusade, I find it quite unlikely that anyone
working now would deliberately choose copyrighted music without permission in
his film (without perhaps conceptualizing it somehow).
But there surely are many works from the times when this issue wasn't so
exposed, I mean Harry Smith's films and such. I quite understand a certain
touchiness of this subject (that is probably why I found so very little about
it), but I would very welcome any relevant tips/readings/examples/contacts.
It is not only my personal curiosity, dissatisfaction with how
intellectual-property laws push economics over creativity (or effectively force
us to disregard a part of our cultural heritage, so to speak). It is also that
we are dealing with this problem right now (preserving and digitizing 8mm films
from the 70s which were originally accompanied with copyrighted,
US-record-label kind of music).
With many thanks for any on- or off-list responses,
Matej Strnad
student at
Center of Audiovisual Studies
Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, CZ
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