Rights to Music???

I'm wondering if anyone out there knows how I would go about getting the rights to some music (from an old french film) I want to use for a super 8 film I shot. Does anyone know any resources that might help me with this?

ASCAP and BMI...do an internet search.

Music Clearance services are actually your best bet...the ones that actually deal with ASCAP and BMI on a daily basis.

If your film is for a school project, you can save big bucks on clearances...

...and you may be able to get away without a clearance if your film is only to be shown in an environment where no one is charging for people to see your movie.

Of course, clearances are always the best...but why pay big bucks if your movie never sells.

Although if it is an obscure piece of music perhaps the fee wouldn't be too much.

Alex

What I heard you could do is change it a little bit like, add a drum solo or something a note or two and you can use that.

Usually the copyright of instrumental music only last 50 years past the life of the composer. After 50 years it becomes public domain. Then there are cases where you use only a small percentage of the full piece. If you have only used a small section of an entire composure you may not need to pay any copyright fees. Lastly there is the issue of using it for non-profit. So long as you cannot profit from the use of the composition you should not have a problem using it. However if you take it to film festivals then you may get cash awards which represents you using it for profit.

I hate to do this because, I am not a lawyer so my advice is only a matter of opinion and not fact.

If you know how old the music is--that is to say the music may be much older than the film itself. If this is the case a copy of the sheet music may be public domain. Then you could have someone play it for you.

It all gets more stickey and you really should contact ASCAP or BMI. A good copyright lawyer can help too. Good Luck