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Music For Slideshows
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Now that I have my DVD slideshow package working – the next question – any ideas on how / where to get music to accompany it ?
I have a few requests for specific songs – 2 for the same one – so I will only need to get a few songs, but once you start giving music slideshows to one couple chances are you will have to start giving them to everyone. From what I gather couples usually request specific songs – not the elevator music which is readily available.
I wrote to IRMA about what I require but no replies as yet.
Perhaps there are a few web-designers out there who incorporate music into web design ?
Any ideas gratefully received.
Rgds
Kevin
One solution I’ve heard is for the couples to give you the music to put on the slideshows. After all, they’ve already purchased a license to use the music and all you’re doing is placing it on a different medium for them to listen to. To be honest, I really don’t know how legit this is (it probably isn’t because copyright law usually prevents one from storing the intellectual property elsewhere).
I tried contacting IMRO once and found them quite slow to respond. Maybe they’ve just got a skeleton staff working there?
Tell the couple that they have to supply the music. In other words, if they want
a particular song on their DVD, then they need to buy the CD (not supply you with
a ripped copy) so you can rip from the original onto their DVD. In purchasing
the original CD, they’ve basically purchased a licence for personal/non commercial
use of the recordings on the CD, meaning that they can copy it to their mp3 players
or computers. As the wedding DVD is for personal use – they’re not going to be
charging people to view it – and they have actually purchased the music, no copyright
laws are being infringed.
As the supplier of their DVD, you can charge for the labour involved in adding the
music to their product, but not for the music itself. Simply put, if you buy a CD, you
can’t legally charge another party to listen to it without an obligation to make returns
to the Irish Music Rights Organisation.Rob.
Cheers for that, sounds very simple – just the way I like it !!!
Regards
Kevin
I think you are on very dodgy ground using any commercial music like this
Having worked in the music business and now buy stuff for use on shows, i have come across this quite a bit
in the uk for example you are breaking the MCPS licensing stuff by moving it from one medium to another. particularly seen as the product you are producing is a commercial product (you would be upset if you made it and the couple makes 20 copies for their famly and friends yea?)
Dont use commercial music for this purpose unless you are very sure of the law,
Steve, as a musician/songwriter and longstanding member of IMRO myself,
I don’t think there’s anything at all dodgy about music for a wedding DVD…‘Mechanical’ rights, are there to protect the artist from mass commercial reproduction
of works, but since the advent of the walkman and all other personal music players,
a degree of commonsense has prevailed in the industry, so that someone who
buys a legal copy of an album, be it on vinyl or CD, is not going to have to pay twice
if they decide to put it on an audio tape, MP3 player, MP3 CD or DVD, for use in an
alternative device. What I’m advising Kevin is to make sure that the customer has
paid for the music, as I said before, an original recording; this is his guarantee
that his customer has the right to use the music on another medium. Even if they
do make twenty copies of it (though that’s hardly likely with a wedding DVD! Any
couple who think that that many of their relatives genuinely want a copy of the
wedding album would be seriously deluded), they would only be for personal use
within a family and wouldn’t really constitute a breach of copyright, or any breach
that any recording artist or publisher would ever consider taking issue with…Copyright law is incredibly convoluted, and incredibly grey in areas. There are
even different rules for different groups, like educators for instance. Peter Cox,
Digital Beginners, Carsten Krieger Photography, etc. all qualify as educators.
How about for example they want to use one of your photographs to teach a class?
How many copies can they make? If it’s a class with 1000 students they can make
1002 copies; one for each student, one for themselves, and one for a tutor. And how
many copies do they have to pay for? Just the one, and they can use it all over again
for the next class of 1000. And whether we like it or not that is entirely legal…When I have a little more time on my hands I’ll try to draw up a simplified version
of the current Copyright Act and how it applies to photographers and teachers of
photography and perhaps Mark might be able to host it somewhere on the site.
In the meantime, if anyone fancies having a brain meltdown, you can always trawl
through the arcane and sometimes indecipherable language of the full version of
the Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000. Though having had to read it
several times myself and refer to it on a regular basis wearing my ‘Conan the
Librarian’ hat, I’d advise strongly against that particular course of action…Rob.
To the best of my knowledge, there is no practical legal method of licensing ‘popular’ music for use in slideshows or videos in Ireland.
I say ‘practical’, because theoretically it’s possible, but the big organisations have no mechanism in place to license to small operators like individual photographers.
I have had zero response to my emails requesting information.It is therefore highly likely that any such music you hear on websites is probably breaking copyright law.
Although what Rob mentions as a commonsense solution sounds OK – it is my understanding of Irish copyright law that you are not even allowed to make copies from one medium to another (e.g. from CD to MP3) – obviously this is pretty much universally ignored – but it still isn’t legal.
So, what’s the solution ?
All I’ve found so far are ‘Royalty Free’ music sites, which supply you with a license to use the music on your site and for slideshows, DVDs etc.
One I use is called Triple Scoop Music – but there are many others – Google for ‘Royalty Free Music’.
Quality and price varies widely.The other solution is to approach musicians who have recorded original material (e.g. on Bebo, Facebook), and work out some arrangement with them.
If anyone is interested, I have an email from MCPS/IMRO with details of licensing agreements, costs, usage details etc.
There are three word documents with all the blurb.Drop me a line with your email address and I will forward them onto you from my gmail account.
Extract from email below.
Dear Kevin,
Please find requested information attached,
MCPS have introduced a yearly licensing scheme, which allows easy access to its members’ repertoire, within certain types of low exploitation productions without the need for obtaining permission from each individual copyright owner.
Attached is a simple guide to the types of production covered by the MCPS Limited Availability Product Licence. If you have any queries regarding this licence you can contact me at this address or on (01) 6766940.Please be aware that you may also need to clear use of the sound recordings with the various record companies involved. Please contact PPI (Phonographic Performance Ireland) for further information on 01 280 5977.
If you have any further queries please don’t hesitate to contact me
Best wishes,
Paul Mallon l Senior Licensing Administrator
____________________________________________________________________
MCPS (Ireland) Limited, Regus Pembroke House, 30 Pembroke Street Upper, Dublin 2.
t: +353 (0)1 2374666 – Please note our new (temporary) address and my new direct phone number
f: +353 (0)1 6611316
e: paul.mallonmcps.ieVisit our website è MCPS Ireland
RgdsKevin
That sounds encouraging – this must have happened since I last investigated.
I wonder if the PPI side of things will be a problem ?
I’ve received the details from KPM, and had a quick read.
My interpretation of them is that the license available is half of what’s required.
I.E. it allows you to use a particular song – provided you have the permission of the PPL (which is possibly hard to get).So, you could use the song ‘Beautiful Day’, recorded by your local friendly group, assuming they give you permission.
However, if you want to use the U2 version, then that would require an additional licence from the PPL to use the U2 recording.Not sure how difficult this might be (but I suspect it might not be easy or cheap).
Anyway – thanks to KPM for getting this far (I failed in the past to make any progress).
slightly off topic so apologies… but can i ask what programs you are using for dvd slideshows?
thanks in advance!!
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