My production studio was recently hired to film a series of concerts in Oklahoma. We were selected to work the event by the entertainment company that setup the stage and organized the bands. We worked directly with the bands' managers to offer videography and editing services to the bands that were interested. We are part of the entertainment company's crew and we have a contract with each of the bands we are going to film.
When we start working out the details of recording an audio feed from the sound board, the main sound guy says they are already recording all the shows, so we can just get a copy from him. He is part of the same entertainment company's crew that we are a part of. We shake on the agreement that we will transfer a copy of the audio recordings from his recording device to our storage device after the concerts.
The concerts go great, our shots turn out fantastic, and all we need to do is edit the video with the audio recordings from the sound board.
When we contact the main sound guy he says we have to pay him a significant sum of money for the audio because it needs to be edited. I tell him we do all the editing and that we just need the raw, unedited audio files transferred to our storage device as we discussed. He says that this is not possible because the unedited recordings contain audio for concerts that we do not have contracts for. He is worried that we will try to sell HIS recordings to the other bands. I assure him that we will discard any audio we do not have permission use. Selling or publishing the other recordings would surely be a legal infraction on our part. He insists that he does not have the legal right to do so, even though this is an internal transfer between members of the entertainment company's crew.
To be clear, we are taking a recording of an artist, editing it, and giving it directly to the artist's manager to fulfill a contractual obligation to the artist's manager.
The main sound guy further insists that each artist that he provides recordings of must first sign a release form explicitly allowing the transfer of the recording into our production company's possession.
In the end, we refused the fees, so the sound guy forced his boss (the entertainment company) to pay the editing fees.
I tried to explain to our mutual boss (the entertainment company) that the editing and the waivers were unnecessary, but the main sound guy had them so worried about being sued by the bands that they were willing to throw money at him to make him happy.
Would transferring a recording, within a company, that we do not have the rights to use (nor intend to use) expose either party to legal repercussions?
Are release forms really necessary when a contract has already been negotiated that permits the use of a recording within the company?
When we start working out the details of recording an audio feed from the sound board, the main sound guy says they are already recording all the shows, so we can just get a copy from him. He is part of the same entertainment company's crew that we are a part of. We shake on the agreement that we will transfer a copy of the audio recordings from his recording device to our storage device after the concerts.
The concerts go great, our shots turn out fantastic, and all we need to do is edit the video with the audio recordings from the sound board.
When we contact the main sound guy he says we have to pay him a significant sum of money for the audio because it needs to be edited. I tell him we do all the editing and that we just need the raw, unedited audio files transferred to our storage device as we discussed. He says that this is not possible because the unedited recordings contain audio for concerts that we do not have contracts for. He is worried that we will try to sell HIS recordings to the other bands. I assure him that we will discard any audio we do not have permission use. Selling or publishing the other recordings would surely be a legal infraction on our part. He insists that he does not have the legal right to do so, even though this is an internal transfer between members of the entertainment company's crew.
To be clear, we are taking a recording of an artist, editing it, and giving it directly to the artist's manager to fulfill a contractual obligation to the artist's manager.
The main sound guy further insists that each artist that he provides recordings of must first sign a release form explicitly allowing the transfer of the recording into our production company's possession.
In the end, we refused the fees, so the sound guy forced his boss (the entertainment company) to pay the editing fees.
I tried to explain to our mutual boss (the entertainment company) that the editing and the waivers were unnecessary, but the main sound guy had them so worried about being sued by the bands that they were willing to throw money at him to make him happy.
Would transferring a recording, within a company, that we do not have the rights to use (nor intend to use) expose either party to legal repercussions?
Are release forms really necessary when a contract has already been negotiated that permits the use of a recording within the company?
