Music Copyrights

[Solambe]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MISSOURI

Question is about copyright laws/fees/whatever for music we'd like to burn on a CD and give as corporate Christmas gifts. We'd burn approx. 1,000 CDs. What, if anything, do we need to do to make sure we aren't breaking any copyright laws?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

[Stevef]

Originally Posted by Solambe

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MISSOURI

Question is about copyright laws/fees/whatever for music we'd like to burn on a CD and give as corporate Christmas gifts. We'd burn approx. 1,000 CDs. What, if anything, do we need to do to make sure we aren't breaking any copyright laws?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

You will need to obtain a license for the 1000 cds. You should contact the RIAA and see if they can help you.

From my experience, the RIAA is very cooperative when you try to do things legally.

[FlyingRon]

You need two things. You need to get mechanical rights. This is fairly straight forward. Most of the mainstream groups are handled by the Harry Fox Agency (an adjunct of the National Music Publishers Association). The statutory royalties are only going to run you $70 or so per song.

Then you will need to secure the master rights for the performances you want to use (if you're not recording your own). There's no statutory/compulsory license on these. You'll have to deal with the owners, there is no one stop shopping (RIAA, Harry Fox, or anybody else) who will handle this for you. You will have to do the legwork yourself or contact a music clearance firm to do it for you.

[Stevef]

Originally Posted by FlyingRon

You need two things. You need to get mechanical rights. This is fairly straight forward. Most of the mainstream groups are handled by the Harry Fox Agency (an adjunct of the National Music Publishers Association). The statutory royalties are only going to run you $70 or so per song.

Then you will need to secure the master rights for the performances you want to use (if you're not recording your own). There's no statutory/compulsory license on these. You'll have to deal with the owners, there is no one stop shopping (RIAA, Harry Fox, or anybody else) who will handle this for you. You will have to do the legwork yourself or contact a music clearance firm to do it for you.

Much better answer!

[Solambe]

Thanks so much!