Music and liteature

[ecgeniy]

Hello.
I will appriciate any information about my question.
I want to publish a podcast with Sci-Fi literature and ambient music at background. Reader should be an english-speaker person. There is just one most succesfull reader in Russia, and i could not find any analogs at english. Russian's podcast is very popular (here is the link https://itunes.apple.com/ru/podcast/model-dla-sborki/id420907455?mt=2). The main goal is to learn english via litarature.
Of course we dont want to steal music and litarature without author's agreement. So the question is what is copyright protection for music and literature in USA, do you have any service or structure where we can buy such intellectual property and then publish it in Russia.

Thank you a lot.
Sorry for my english.
Evgeniy, Moscow.

 

[quincy]

Hello.
I will appriciate any information about my question.
I want to publish a podcast with Sci-Fi literature and ambient music at background. Reader should be an english-speaker person. There is just one most succesfull reader in Russia, and i could not find any analogs at english. Russian's podcast is very popular (here is the link https://itunes.apple.com/ru/podcast/model-dla-sborki/id420907455?mt=2). The main goal is to learn english via litarature.
Of course we dont want to steal music and litarature without author's agreement. So the question is what is copyright protection for music and literature in USA, do you have any service or structure where we can buy such intellectual property and then publish it in Russia.

Thank you a lot.
Sorry for my english.
Evgeniy, Moscow.

You would have to contact each US copyright holder and request from each their permission to use their works for your specific purposes. The permission, if granted, will generally come in the form of a license to use the material.

For more information on US copyright law, here is a link to the US Copyright Office: http://www.copyright.gov

For certain purposes and under certain circumstances, and seven years after first publication of a copyrighted work, it can be possible for someone in a different country to acquire, without permission of the copyright holder, a "compulsory" license to translate a US work that has not already been translated into that country's primary language. Even with the compulsory license, royalties must be still be paid to the copyright holder.

I am not sure from your post if you are looking to translate complete editions of US works or not, though.

I recommend you consult with an intellectual property attorney in Moscow for advice and direction. Good luck.

 

[ecgeniy]

You would have to contact each US copyright holder and request from each their permission to use their works for your specific purposes. The permission, if granted, will generally come in the form of a license to use the material.

Thank you a lot for a quick response, quincy!
As i understand i have to request permission from _every_ author? And what about literature, that was written more then 50-60-70 years ago? Don't you have any place where we can pay some fee and then publish books through podcasts/audiobooks. As far as i know there are many similar podcasts in USA.

 

[quincy]

Thank you a lot for a quick response, quincy!
As i understand i have to request permission from _every_ author? And what about literature, that was written more then 50-60-70 years ago? Don't you have any place where we can pay some fee and then publish books through podcasts/audiobooks. As far as i know there are many similar podcasts in USA.

If the book or the music is not in the public domain in the US (for one example: published before 1923), then you need to request permission from the holder of the copyright - which may or may not be the author/creator of the work. Rights can change hands.

You can perhaps contact first the publishers of the musical works or books you wish to use. The publishers may hold rights to more than one of the works you are thinking of using for your podcast or they can direct you to the copyright holder who can grant (or deny) permission for use. By contacting the publishers first, this can potentially cut down on the time you will need to spend on your search.

Following is a link to information on getting permission, published by Stanford University. You might find it helpful. http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/introduction/getting-permission/

You are smart to think about the legalities involved in using the copyrighted works of others. Good luck, ecgeniy.