Free use music?

Flash · Nov 12, 2008

PCLoadLetter said:

Angola! said:

Rhody31 said:

I'm not 100 percent sure, but you are allowed to use a certain amount of music from anybody without infringing on copyright laws ... i think it's like 20 seconds or something.
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Yeah, that's what I was told.

For our Halloween wrap up show we used Monster Mash, but only had about 15 seconds of it play.

I thought you just couldn't use the entire song.
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No. That could potentially cost you thousands of dollars.

The rules are complicated. I can explain them in terms of broadcast television, and I assume they are roughly the same for other mediums.

If you are covering an event where music is playing you can use less than 15 seconds of a song. So, if you are covering a U2 concert you can use :14 of "Sunday Bloody Sunday," then :14 of "Vertigo," but if you use :15 of any one song you've got to pay for it.

The same is true if you are doing a legit news story on U2: for example, they've announced a tour date in your city, you can show video of a past performance of the song for up to :14.

However... if you add music to something -- like adding "Monster Mash" to a story, or just playing it going into a commercial break on Halloween -- you have to report it and pay the licensing fee. There is no :15 rule -- any use, no matter how brief, is reportable.

It ain't cheap if you don't report it and get caught. A few years ago a producer at my shop remembered an old novelty song and video that fit well with something that happened that day. He found the video on YouTube and put it in the newscast. He didn't know the rules. It cost us $10,000.
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Sounds like it would be a much less expensive venture to get an account at a stock site.

Good information here, considering I want to do some YouTube vids for our college.

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