Music Rights and internal communication

[Bob Vick]

[Bob Cole] “More to the point for documentaries, what about incidental music playing on a jukebox or radio, in the background of an interview? “

I recall directing live sporting events where the National Anthem is played. I always had to structure my break to cover most of the playing. Since we did not have rights to broadcast the theme, we could only show a small portion of it. Usually I came back from commercial with the last 15 sec left of the song.

bob

[Frank Otto]

Bob, it’s a magazine…unknown if it’s quarterly or not. Let me find the issue at home and I’ll post that info.

Cheers,

Frank Otto

[Frank Otto]

When I was doing a lot of ESPN work we always had an issue with the bands at half-time and the rally bands for basketball. ABC got sued over using “Rock The Casbah” as a live bump out on a Kentucky game so as of 1992 we could only (for ESPN) use the band if they played the “Sportscenter Theme” or the school music.

It wasn’t a problem for incidental, just if the band was featured or recorded and played out later.

(that was also the year ESPN created the “no shots of women without a head” rule)

Cheers,

Frank Otto

[Bob Cole]

[Frank Otto] “It wasn’t a problem for incidental, just if the band was featured or recorded and played out later.”

I want to make sure I understand this: If the band was playing in the background, and you were doing an on-court interview or showing the players huddling on the sidelines, it was okay, even if you could clearly hear the band? But it was not okay, if you cut to a live shot of the band playing the latest top 40 hit?

[Bob Cole]

I respect your decision, but I’m not sure whether having a lawyer’s participation is realistic. They like to get PAID. And one of the best pages I’ve found on model releases is on a photographer’s website (https://www.danheller.com/model-release.html). Realistic pragmatic advice.

The law changes so fast, and is so full of fine distinctions, that even an attorney’s presence on a forum wouldn’t guarantee correct answers. You can never PREVENT someone from suing you; you can only act so as to limit the potential problem should someone decide to do so.

I was really not so much beating a dead horse vis a vis the COW as I was soliciting input about other websites that might offer a forum about legal matters and the media business.

[Frank Otto]

That was the opinion of legal. The infringment case was based on the decision of the producer to “feature” the band and, as such, the producer has the obligation to verify if the work being performed was licenced (note – Kentucky was also named by CBS Records as a party – later removed from the suit as the school had “bought” the arraingment).

The court ruled that the producer of a live event has no control over background sounds duing announcer segments or game play. However the control was excercised when the producer, specifically asked the camera operator to cue the band, then featured the band playing the song in question. Additionally, the producer saw fit to record the segment, use it as a bump out at a later time (i.e. not live) and then use it again as bg for a promo days later.

1990, 91 and 92 brought on a lot of litigation against the producers of sports televison – the nets all believed they had paid royalties under the “ASCAP-BMI blanket” for broadcasting. That blanket was determined to only apply to non syncronized playback of music as programming (i.e radio or background to non-syncronized text or images). It did not cover the use of licenced material as sync’d background, thematic or scored incidental for programming or re-recording.

Cheers,

Frank Otto

[Timothy J. allen]

To all,
NASA imagery is free and clear for you to use, but there are a few stipulations.
You can find the guidelines at https://www.sti.nasa.gov/new/vidguide.html

Timothy J. Allen,
Video Production Team Lead,
NASA Johnson Space Center
Houston, Texas, U.S.A.