I'm curious how others around here handle music licensing for videos.
More and more of us are shooting video on our SLRs, some more seriously than others. At the moment I shoot random clips during my trips when I'm not shooting stills, compiling them into one or two short movies when I get home. Others may put together videos for promotional purposes, perhaps promoting a workshop or tour.
More often than not, the videos are set to music. After recently seeing a couple videos other photographers (including NPN members) have put together, some of which don't even have any music credits at the end, I'm compelled to ask what folks do about music licensing. If it's even something you think about.
Back when I first got a taste of the "professional" world of photography, the importance of copyright was hammered home fairly early and often. "Don't give images away," etc. It went both ways though, as folks would bring up the fact that we should respect music copyrights for the same reasons we want people to respect our image copyrights. Not to mention the legal ramifications of stealing music.
So I do my best to do that. Unfortunately, since I don't have the budget to pay for a soundtrack to an informal video clip montage, that means I'm usually relying on the Apple music library in iMovie, or the one site I've found that offers free licensing.
What do you guys do? Have you found sites that offer free licensing, do you contact musicians directly, or do you not even bother and just use what you like?
Max
btw- If this is not the best forum for this topic, an admin is welcome to move it.
We go two directions, Max. At the PPA and WPPI trade shows there are always vendors selling CD's of royalty-free music. We also license or commission local musicians. That's our preferred route.
I completely agree with you Max. I wouldn't want anyone using my photos without permission and so try to do the same with the use of music. I get most of my music from local musicians that I know personally and can work out a deal with. If I can't find what I need locally, then I license my music from musicians that I've found online. I haven't had the greatest of luck finding royalty-free music that I like so I normally work directly with an artist who's work fits the mood I'm trying to convey.
I have gotten direct permission from local artists to use their music on my web site. All they've asked for is a "credit" and a link to their web site. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Has worked pretty well...and it's FREE!!
DigitalJuice.com offers a really quality line of royalty free music that can easily be tailored via their free proprietary editor. Their old line was called StacTraxx; their current product is MusicBox. Depending on how often you produce work backed by music, their line is either a bargain or pretty pricey. They run some great specials several times a year (including this month) when you can pick up their products for 40-50% off.
Discussion
5 repliesMore and more of us are shooting video on our SLRs, some more seriously than others. At the moment I shoot random clips during my trips when I'm not shooting stills, compiling them into one or two short movies when I get home. Others may put together videos for promotional purposes, perhaps promoting a workshop or tour.
More often than not, the videos are set to music. After recently seeing a couple videos other photographers (including NPN members) have put together, some of which don't even have any music credits at the end, I'm compelled to ask what folks do about music licensing. If it's even something you think about.
Back when I first got a taste of the "professional" world of photography, the importance of copyright was hammered home fairly early and often. "Don't give images away," etc. It went both ways though, as folks would bring up the fact that we should respect music copyrights for the same reasons we want people to respect our image copyrights. Not to mention the legal ramifications of stealing music.
So I do my best to do that. Unfortunately, since I don't have the budget to pay for a soundtrack to an informal video clip montage, that means I'm usually relying on the Apple music library in iMovie, or the one site I've found that offers free licensing.
What do you guys do? Have you found sites that offer free licensing, do you contact musicians directly, or do you not even bother and just use what you like?
Max
btw- If this is not the best forum for this topic, an admin is welcome to move it.