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A common question surrounding music clearances
for a film, television, or documentary is “How much can I use
before I have to get clearance?” The answer is NONE. There
is no exemption from needing music clearances from copyrighted works.
Many people mistakenly believe that if they only use the first seven
bars or the first three seconds then no clearance is required. ALL
music – even a riff, a sample, or music playing in the background
– must be cleared. Not clearing music for use in your project
is a potential infringement of the copyright in the music. Infringing
someone else’s copyright in your project can lead to you not
being able to show your project in public until you either license
the use to the copyrighted material or remove it completely.
In clearing music for your project you will have to obtain at least
the license to use the words and music (Synchronization License).
To obtain a Synchronization License you have to contact the publisher(s)
of the composition. Many times there is more than one publisher
with each owning a percentage of the copyright in the publishing.
You have to negotiate and obtain a separate license from each publisher
until you can account for 100% of the copyright in the publishing.
If the music comes from someone else’s recording you will also
have to license the use for that recording (Master Use or Master
Synchronization License). To obtain a Master Use License you need
to contact the owner of the master recording. If you are using music
directly from a CD the owner of the master recording is most likely
the record label.
A common error is only to think about music during to post production
and to start negotiating licenses then. The problem with this approach
is that by the time you get to post production the unlicensed piece
of music may already be integral to your project or may be almost
impossible to remove. Negotiating from this position is more difficult
than negotiating before cameras roll when you still have alternatives.
You may find yourself in the unfortunate position of not being able
to license the music at all or that it is very expensive to do so.
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