Part 3 - Music: Licenses, Agreements and Copyright

This section of the Procedures and Protocols deals with Music, and the Licenses, Agreements and Copyrights required to utilize different types of music in your productions.

Many of the forms are common for all years, and have been collected in the ESSENTIAL FORMS section. There is also an APPENDIX section with additional information.

Copyright is defined as “the exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material.”

One integral element of any film production is the music.  This is short guide of what you need to know and do when adding music to your production and brief explanation of where copyright licenses might apply in your production.

A copyright license is simply an agreement of the assigned rights of created work between the creator and the person or organization who wants to use that work.

One broad rule of thumb when it comes to music copyright is that someone technically owns his or her created work and you can’t just use what you like without permission or for free. You need to check and sometimes apply for permission.

In some cases the permission to use the music will take the form of an agreement, release form or a license. It might even be ‘free’ but you might need to at least credit the composer!

Below are the examples of the types of categories that you might encounter and what is recommended that you do in every circumstance.