I took a film class last year as a senior in high school. Don't know if this is correct but, he said that as long as it was under 30 seconds, then you dont need permission. If the clip was <= 30 seconds , then this is probably true.

Quote: Original post by dpadam450
I took a film class last year as a senior in high school. Don't know if this is correct but, he said that as long as it was under 30 seconds, then you dont need permission. If the clip was <= 30 seconds , then this is probably true.

This is a myth that for some reason refuses to go away. As far as I know, there has never been a 30-second, 8-second, or 3-second, or any other time-based rule. Rather than type a post again, I'll direct you here.

Quote: Original post by Muzo72

Quote: Original post by dpadam450
he said that as long as it was under 30 seconds, then you dont need permission.

As far as I know, there has never been a 30-second, 8-second, or 3-second, or any other time-based rule.

Yup. Gotta get permission. Don't go by what non-lawyers tell you (that includes us, we're non-lawyers too). When dealing with a hot legal potato, get legal advice. It'll cost you less in the long run.

lol i was looking at the shaolin soccer soundtrack a second ago and if you look at song "18 - victory" at about 2:30 it sounds alot and i mean ALOT like Hans Zimmers King of Pride Rock from the lion king at about 4:20. Is there a rule that tells about how similar your song is to another? Im no music expert but these songs remind me alot of each other.

Quote: Original post by jchmack
Is there a rule that tells about how similar your song is to another?

Yes. Copy and paste these (I'm too lazy to HTML-ize them for you):

http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/mysweet.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Sweet_Lord

http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/law/library/cases/case_brightharrisongs.html

http://www.benedict.com/audio/audio.aspx

Quote: Original post by jchmack
Is there a rule that tells about how similar your song is to another?

There is no hard and fast rule. There is precedent, but if a case goes to court in the USA I believe it really boils down the court deciding on a case by case basis. For this reason advertising agencies and others are known have a musicologist sign off on an original piece as a type of insurance before it is used. The musicologist states that it is an original work in her professional opinion. Lawsuits over this are notorious in the ad world because there are so many "sound-alike" tracks.

In most composing contracts (advertising, film, game, TV), there is a paragraph where the composer must warrant that the work created is original and not based on any existing work to the composer's knowledge. This is the company's way of putting responsibility back on the composer if it turns out the music is not original. The assumption is that the composer is a professional and a music expert, so the company is deferring to the composer's expertise.

My personal favorite is when a company gives a composer a contract with language like this and then says, "We want it to sound as close as possible to the music on this CD we're giving you." [totally]

Quote: Original post by Muzo72

Quote: Original post by dpadam450
I took a film class last year as a senior in high school. Don't know if this is correct but, he said that as long as it was under 30 seconds, then you dont need permission. If the clip was <= 30 seconds , then this is probably true.

This is a myth that for some reason refuses to go away. As far as I know, there has never been a 30-second, 8-second, or 3-second, or any other time-based rule. Rather than type a post again, I'll direct you here.

What I heard was that tunes less than 30 seconds long can't be copyrighted. You can't take 30 seconds of a four minute song, but if a song is 20 seconds long, it doesn't get protection.

Now that I think about it, I think I heard this about the Jeopardy! theme...Merv Griffin added a few notes at the end at one point to get it over the 30 second mark so it could be protected.

While the George Harrison "My Sweet Lord" case was won by the plaintiff's, one of my favorite copyright infringement cases is where John Fogarty was sued because his song "Old Man Down The Road" from his Centerfield album sounded like "Run Through The Jungle" (from Creedence Clearwater Revival, which Fogarty was writer, guitarist and frontman for). In that case, though, the judge did decide that a songwriter has a distinct style and that the two song were different compositions. :)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fogerty