Using Copyrighted Material?

Here is some information we have gathered that should help you clear up some of these questions about copyrighted material.

Can I use a copyrighted song in my film?

Not without permission. To get permission you have to get a licence from the owner that is specific to your film. Using copyrighted music in a film requires obtaining the appropriate licenses from the copyright holders. Musical compositions and their recordings are protected intellectual property, meaning you cannot use a full copyrighted song in your film without permission from the rights holders.

Can I get my friend to record a cover of the music I want and use that?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. There are two main types of licenses needed for using copyrighted music in a film: a synchronization (sync) license and a master use license. The sync license allows you to use the musical composition in your film, while the master use license permits the use of the specific recording of the song. Technically even if you record your own version, you would still need permission. If the new recording is deemed "transformative" enough to be differentiated as its own "new" creation, then sometimes that can be done without a license, but it would require a substantial enough change to the original composition.

How do I get permission?

You would need to contact the publisher of the song composition and the label that owns rights to the sound recording, providing details on how the song will be used, ie: your film, the publishing of it (YouTube, etc.), and any other distribution or festival. Asking for permission costs you nothing, and you would be surprised who gives their consent. Some labels even have limited use licenses available specifically for student filmmakers. We have had a number of students over the years get permission from artists to use their work in their films. Getting permission to use a song in a film is a different license than getting permission to use a song during a live event, theater show, dance, sporting event, etc. because those events only happen once in person, while films can be replayed and redistributed over and over again.

What about "fair use?"

Fair use allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes like commentary, criticism, news reporting, teaching, and research. However, fair use is very context-specific and not recommended for narrative short films featuring recognizable music. If you aren't critiquing or commenting on the work itself, it almost certainly does not fall into the "fair use" category.

What about for "educational purposes?"

You can use copyrighted material for educational purposes, but that only applies to certain types of use. Think for example about the little exercises we've done in class. Green screen exercises use some assets owned by others. Acting scenes use copyrighted scripts that we used in the classroom for learning acting. After Effects lessons used copyrighted assets for the purposes of our learning and practice. You can learn and practice with copyrighted material at home or in the classroom all you want. Educational purposes does not however extend beyond that. If you don't have permission, you can't use copyrighted content that isn't owned by you for your works that are being presented to the public.

What music can I use?

A lot of music available online is made available to filmmakers with a limited use license or a creative commons license. There is a lot more music available now then there was when I first started teaching, and a lot of it is pretty good. YouTube has a lot of available music you can download, as do several other sites. We have also had a lot of success with reaching out to smaller or local artists and musicians. A lot of indie bands are happy to have their work included in your creations. You can also use music that is available in the public domain, which is music that is old enough where the copyright has expired. And of course, you are always free to create your own music. We do have a pretty great recording studio, as you know.

Is it really that big of a deal?

It can be. Audio is literally half of your movie. If you are taking art that belongs to someone else for half of your movie, that movie is no longer just your own. You are in some sense, passing off someone else's work as yours. You wouldn't want someone taking your screenplay and filming it without your permission. Productions that get caught using music without permission can pay a penalty of up to $150,000 per track. While it is highly unlikely that that would ever happen to a student production, Freestyle has been penalized time and time again on our YouTube channel because of students using copyrighted music and or video. Everytime YouTube pemalizes us with a strike, we have to delete the student work, and we get penalized for a certain period of time during which we are not permitted to upload anything to our YouTube channel. If we accumulate too many strikes in a certain period of time, our entire school account of over a decade of student work could be deleted and removed from the service entirely. YouTube has been coming after us more and more the last couple years, so yes, it is becoming a bigger deal. When you use someone else's work in your student films you put our entire YouTube channel at risk, and we're at a point now where YouTube is being more aggressive about enforcing that than they have in the past. So you can understand why we want to avoid that.

Understanding copyright can be really challenging, and a lot of these laws were created before the internet really became a thing. It is possible that at some point in the future, lawmakers will reassess the terms with which copyright can be used. Fortunately, there are many independent artists online that are open to having their art reach a wider audience, and are making their work available for young filmmakers like you.

We hope that answers some of your questions.