I'm a little confused about the how one can use copyrighted music in their movie. I know that in order to use someone's music you have to get their permission and possible pay royalties. But what if you get a band to cover that song? Can you use that song with just that band's permission? I'm asking because when the producers were making the soundtrack for "I Am Sam" they got Paul and Yoko's permissions but couldn't reach George because he was sick. So they ended up using Beatles covers instead of originals.
Also, what are the rules for quoting a line from a movie or a song? Or mentioning a famous person's name? Do I need to get permission for all of that too? Like that movie "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". The entire story line was based on The Beatles. What kind of rules do I need to follow to make a movie like that?

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Also, what are the rules for quoting a line from a movie or a song? Or mentioning a famous person's name? Do I need to get permission for all of that too?

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I'm not sure how to help you on the music part..but I'm pretty sure your allowed to quote whatever lines you want from movies...just don't make a reference to the actull title. Look how many times "You talkin' to me?" has been quoted but never connected to "Taxi Driver" A friend a mine thought that quote was from the Godfather! As far as quoting lyrics...I think its the same as using the song. It would cost WAY too much money for you to get these rights, that is unless your a big money producer or just won the lotery, so I would suggest paying composerto write a score for your film. For student films they usually don't price high...depends mostly on your budget.

BUT! If your making the film nd you never plan to show it in Competetive festivals than you can use whatever music you want...since no profit is coming your way. The reason you have to pay royalties is the guys who own that music think that if your movie is making money becausetheir song is it then they think YOU are making money from them...and they arn't getting a cut.

So in short...if you are just planning on showing on this website, or others, knowing you will never compete against other films in festivals, then it doesn't matter what you do music wise.

I hope I was some help.

TACO WAGON PRODUCTIONS©

"They look like psychos? Is that what they look like? They were Vampires. Psychos do not EXPLODE when sunlight hits them. I don't give a f*** how crazy they are!" - George Clooney in 'From Dusk Till Dawn'

Thanks

I'm not sure what the US equivilent is, but here in the UK copyright for music is primarily dealt with by the "Performing Rights Society" and the "Mechanical Copyright Protection Society".

Generally, you make an arrangement with either or both and they then send you an invoice.

Festival rights cost less than complete clearance but does make selling your film more difficult.

However, if you don't plan to make any money from your film then you'll probably be okay. Heck, look at the amount of films on this site that have used copyright music!

Richard Purves
One Man Band
omb@blueyonder.co.uk
http://www.omb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

When you secure rights to music you secure rights to the two different things: 1. The song and 2. The recording. MY UNDERSTANDING is it's easier to get song rights than recording rights because the song rights revert back to the artist whereas the recording label can always owns the recording. A good example is Lynch's Blue Velvet. At first, he tried to get the artist of the song to rerecord the song because it was going to be cheaper than paying royalties on the original recording. So, back to your question, Paul and Yoko may be able to give rights to the song, but not the recording.

Hope that made sense.
joren

i like that name, strawberry moon