Hi, can anyone give me a few tips or indicators as to how much it would cost to use a professional song in a video, and how you go about buying it for a video?

i.e. if I wanted to do a video with a Queen song behind it (not that I do), how much would it cost and how do I buy the song.

Cheers

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Andy
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There is no easy answer.

It depends on a number of factors, what te video's for, how long the track is, which track it is etc.etc.

The Performing Rghts Society http://www.prs.co.uk/ are responsible for collecting the fees and work with the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society http://www.mcps.co.uk/ but organisations such as the Institute of Videographers http://www.iov.co.uk/ and the Guild of Videographers http://www.gpv4u.co.uk/ have schemes to arrange payment.

It's best that you contact them as you know what you want and what you'll use it for.

Don't listen to any saloon-bar lawyers on this subject, there are all sorts of urban myths about copyright and it can cost you a lot of money if you don't do it right.

I found out once, took me ages, I wanted to use a phillip glass track in a film, totally arty not for profit... 50 quid for six months. Then they ( a nice lady in the comapny that owned the rights in the usa ) told me not to bother as they didnt really mind 'arty' use.

At the risk of myth spinning i bet commercial use for a 'known' song would be well pricey. The rights to songs are gold dust, solid diamond and unicorns horns all at the same time.

ANd waht is wrong with queen... ? ? ? ?

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Mark W is a case in point (positively) about how myths can get started. Someone hearing about his result (and not fully reading what he wrote in his post) could easily get the impression that you don't have to pay for "art" videos or if it's not for profit. A myth I've seen posted as "copyright law" on other forums. Mark's case was the publisher being generous.

Mark's done the right thing for this sort of project, contacted the copyright owners directly but for commercial projects this isn't always the cheapest way since the copyright holders often ask for silly money.

I worked on a low-budget feature a few years ago. The film was edited and finished.... and is still sitting in a vault. All because the producer cocked-up with the soundtrack. The movie was filmed for specific music and the producer got the reply "no problem, we'll sort out the fee after you've finished the film" and the producer (twat) assumed that it had been sorted. Needless to say the amount the copyright holder eventually asked for was way, way above what had been allowed for in the budget (they demanded a cool million, thus doubling the cost of the production) and it scuppered the movie.

Be warned.

I'd never heard of the Guild of Videographers, and to be perfectly honest they look like a bunch of cowboys from their website. Not exactly the most appropriate way of giving credibility to an 'industry' with very little to begin with.

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I don't "know" them either but I wanted to give an alternative to the I.O.V. and I know that there are a few suchlike organisations. I must be honest and say that I find the use of the word "guild" a bit pompous, especially as it took me a long time to get into my particular "guild" but I digress..

Ahh, my error, I mistook them for the APV ( www.apv.org.uk ) anyway there are shedloads of wedding videographers clubs/guilds/associations out there and most of them have licencing schemes for music.

It does take up to 3 days

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On this subject, are fees due when you use just the music and not the lyrics?

I've often seen TV programmes loop the intro's to current music tracks - the ITV F1 team often do this - and reloop just before the lyrics kick-in.

Does this mean they pay NO fees; or are they doing this to pay LESS fees?

Rick

I don't know the answer, but I would assume that this is due to a style thing rather than the cost.

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Thanks Marc,

No, I reckon it's either a cost thing or something which maybe helps them in the editing process? Sometimes (ITV F1) will include lyrics, sometimes not. But I've seen several ITV and BBC programmes use the introductory theme to a popular song, but no lyrics.

How many times have you heard the opening bars to Snow Patrol tracks this year? Or Coldplay, used by the BBC for fundraising gigs?

The cost thing would make sense for things like Comic Relief, but then you'd think (hope) bands wouldn't charge anyway. BUt I've seen low budget TV shows not use lyrics, deliberately.

Michael Palin once said, in his Hemingway Adventure programme and whilst standing in an outdoor supplies shop buying deer musk, that if he sung the lyrics to a song he's get royalties!