Permission to use a song

January 11, 2007 at 8:50 PM

How would one go about getting permission to use a song?

From Ben Clapton
Posted on January 11, 2007 at 11:43 PM

First you need to find out who controls the copyright. In Australia, this is easy because we only have one copyright council. However, in America, you need to make sure you use the right one. You contact them, and ask for permission to use it. You will be asked things such as what will you be using it for, will you be making any money from it, etc, and then charged an appropriate fee.

If it's something such as U2, it might be very expensive to get permission. However, if it's a local band that hasn't made it big yet, you might be able to go to them directly and get them to give you permission for a nominal fee.

From Daniel Blomdahl
Posted on January 11, 2007 at 11:52 PM

When you refer to: owns the copyright. Do you mean the one who published the song?

From Ben Clapton
Posted on January 12, 2007 at 7:03 AM

Generally, yea, the person who wrote the song is the copyright holder - unless they have sold their copyright. In America there are three Performance Rights agencies - BMI, ASCAP and SESAC. Generally, if you want to perform any work in America that is covered under copyright, you need to get a licence from one of these guys. ANd you need to make sure you get the right licence. If, say, you decided to perform a string quartet arrangement of "Kissed by a Rose" and you find out that it's licensed by BMI. You get a licence from them, and also decide to do a quartet arrangement of "Enter Sandman" from Metallica, and assume that because you've gota licence from BMI, it's alright. If an agen from ASCAP turned up at your concert, you would be facing a big fine, because "Enter Sandman" is covered through ASCAP. There are massive fines for infringing copyright, and getting the wrong licence isn't an excuse.

This entry has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

Permission to use a song

Subscribe

Laurie's Books