Hello again,

One thing I have always wanted to do is to gain clearance to use Copyrighted music in the pieces I have been making. Why do I want to do this? Music is such an essential part of filmmaking. Do you sometimes feel that it is the soundtrack, almost above all else, that moves you when film viewing? I’ve felt this way about films such as Arnold’s American Honey (2016), or Wes Anderson’s Rushmore (1998). I could write all day long about how crucial music is to film but I may save that for another blog. I really like music and music was actually the thing that made me want to start filmmaking. When I listen to music I want to make films. I won’t attempt to explain that. So I feel that in the future I will need to gain clearance to use the music I want to use in my films. Now (and I draw my information from the Australian Copyright Council) using music in a student film for educational purposes does not need to be cleared, as long as that film is not distributed outside of the classroom. An example of such distribution would be making the film available online or entering it into a festival. So even though it is not necessary, as such, for me to gain clearance for the music I use in my projects, (as a student furthering my education) it will be very useful practice, that will come in handy now as well as in the future. Lucky for me, a lot of the music I like is made by local, some what less known artists.. Let’s see if I can do this.

Before I start, here are the facts:

-Generally, you will need permission to use someone else’s music in a film or video.

-If you intend to screen or distribute your film project in any context that is not part of your course of study, you are likely to require permission to include music in your project.

-Generally, people who want to use copyright material need to contact the copyright owners to get permission.

-The copyright owner will often be identified in a copyright notice on the music (for example, on the back cover of a CD or in the metadata of a digital music file).

You need to gain clearence for a license from the artists, the publishers (this is called the Performance and Synchronization License) and the record label (this license is called the Master Use Licence) if you would like to use an artist’s bands music as part of your soundtrack.. If you want more info on this please follow this link.

So I’ve decided I would like to use a certain piece of music, made by a local Melbourne band for our Tuesday ideas experiment.

Information about how to go about asking can be found here: 

Okay, now I’m going to compose a letter which I will send to the band, as well as the record label and see how I go. Expect a follow up post with a copy of the letter.

And even a reply.