Music sources for video and slide shows

[Edward Troxel]

[Margie] “Can I make a family project dvd and use music from a cd that I purchased for my family at no charge to family or friends?”

For your own personal use for your own viewing pleasure, no problem. Start including “family and friends” is where your problems start.

[Margie] “Second case is what if I were to make a dvd program for someone and if I would charge for that and either use music from my cds that I had bought or from their cds that they had bought?”

That is not legal without purchasing the proper rights.

Do a search for “Royalty Free Music” and you can freely use that in your projects once purchased. You can also create your own music using programs such as Acid. The use of “popular” music you simply rip from a CD is not legal unless you pay the proper fees and, unfortunately, there is no good means of doing so for the small videographer. That’s why you’ll find that many simply do it anyway even though it is illegal. Personally, I use royalty free music.

Edward Troxel

[Margie Marfi]

Thank you Ed for your advice. I think it’s sad that recording companies don’t seem to adjust their policies to keep up with technology to make it easier to be legal and use music that people have formed attachments to per different events in their lives. I just talked with a friend who does video/photography for a branch of the US military. He said they are supplied with royalty free music to use in their programs because it’s too much of a hassle for the government to track down and pay per use licensing fees to the recording companies. Bummer.

Best regards,
Margie