Thread: music for teaching video- copyright issue?

hi y'all!

i'm a belly dance teacher and performer from canada, now living in india... super impressed with all the info on this tribe!

i'm working with some musicians to make music for my teaching video. For the intro dance and also for a choreography, i'm asking the guys to play songs that are well known- inchallah by latefa and eshtaktillak (from very bellydance cd). now what to do about copyrights? do i ask my musicians to alter the tunes so they aren't so recognizable or can they just play them?

thanks for any leads and info!

tara

This is very sketchy territory. If songs are so old that they are considered free domain then all you need to worry about is the arrangement. If you play it exactly like another band you are stealing, plain and simple. You need to check who owns the right to the songs you would like included.

Your best bet is to just have the musicians create original music for you. That way you can't be accused of stealing and you don't have to worry about securing copyrights.

I wonder how someone would go about asking an artist to use their music. And how much that would cost. I know Messoun did her own video I wonder if she has any advice. I was thinking if you use an artist song in your video thats like free advertiseing, maybe they will be happy with that trade off and maybe selling there CD with the video?

Originally Posted by toria_dances

I wonder how someone would go about asking an artist to use their music. And how much that would cost. I know Messoun did her own video I wonder if she has any advice. I was thinking if you use an artist song in your video thats like free advertiseing, maybe they will be happy with that trade off and maybe selling there CD with the video?

I know a dancer who did a teaching video using the music of Dr. Sammy Farag. I believe the terms were quite reasonable, including a credit and link on the cover and in the video itself. But I'm sure it varies from artist to artist.

I came across a site a couple of years ago where you could buy commercial rights to some songs. I remember seeing some Emad Sayyah songs there. It wasn't expensive AT ALL. Don't have any memory of the site, though.

Well, I know it varys quite a bit. I have come across some musicians who welcomed it gladly (the only thing that they wanted to be mentioned) and others (not very famous ones) wanted unrealistically sums. So certainly the project was dropped.

so would it be rude to contact the artist directly?

Toria, it's not rude at all to approach the artist directly, especially if they are an independent label that produces their own music.

Write a professional-looking letter. Introduce yourself, explain that your reason for writing is that you're interested in using some of their music on a video, identify precisely which song(s) you want to use, describe what the nature of the video will be (instructional, performance, etc.), and identify any other people who will be involved in the making of the video. Ask what their terms/conditions would be for you to obtain permission to use their music in the way that you have described.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

I came across a site a couple of years ago where you could buy commercial rights to some songs. I remember seeing some Emad Sayyah songs there. It wasn't expensive AT ALL. Don't have any memory of the site, though.

If you could remember, or if anyone else reading this thread knows of that website (or another simular), please let us know. In these days of copyright cases/regulations - this would be great.

anyone know what site this is?

Originally Posted by Chandra

If you could remember, or if anyone else reading this thread knows of that website (or another simular), please let us know. In these days of copyright cases/regulations - this would be great.

There are different kinds of rights to obtain. If for example the artist gives you permission to use a song that someone else wrote, but that is not in the public domain, then there would be another copyright to obtain.
That being said- there are many artists who would be happy to work with you in a reasonable fashion.
There is an article here: http://www.gildedserpent.com/art40/YaminCopyright.htm
specifically about dancers using music for CDs and DVDs or in shows that are later put on DVD by an event sponsor.
This is really important to consider- there are many many belly dance videos and CDs that aren't sold on Amazon, simply because they didn't not get permission to use the music. Even some very big name ones do not get the music rights...and you don't see them on Amazon (too visible).
Having your product on Amazon certainly helps it in the long run. In addition, as artists it's nice to support other artists and show respect for their work by requesting permission and abiding the the agreement that you work out.

Originally Posted by Chandra

If you could remember, or if anyone else reading this thread knows of that website (or another simular), please let us know. In these days of copyright cases/regulations - this would be great.

Sorry, I do wish I could remember. It was years ago, though, and may not still exist.

I produced my own instructional DVD, I bought a song from John Belejikian for the Turkish portion, and used music off my own CD's for the Egyptian and Lebanese portion of the video. You can expect to pay between $500-$1000 per song, which can get expensive if you use several pieces like I did. If you can stick to one song then it's not so bad.