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Copyrighted Music in Student Films?
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I've been teaching Digital Media Productions to high school students for the past 3 years. I just found out our district (4 High Schools) pays $8K a year to Killer Tracks in order to have a district license on their music library.
1. I was wondering it's worth paying that amount each year when I could use that money towards new equipment or other expenses to build my class?
2. Is it better to go without the license and just have my students make their own music, get in touch with local artist, or event ask fellow classmates' bands?
3. What, if any, are the guidelines of posting videos on youtube or any other online host that use copyrighted material?
If you could get back to me before September 1st that would be great! THANKS!
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With limited funds it's always hard to make the decision as to how much you are willing to pay for something to "be legal". Technically you still have to license music properly, even for student productions. However, labels and copyright holders probably won't go after you or your students, unless the project becomes a big hit and they see $$. However, that does not open the door to use unlicensed footage. All in all it depends on the usage of the music. "Fair Use" claims can be made, if the use is transformative, or you are making a commentary on the work in some way. http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/fair_use/ has some great information on it.
Technically it is illegal to post material on Youtube that you do not have copyright ownership or licensing of. It is up to the copyright holder to make the claim, but recently Youtube has become the Gestapo of online video hosting and removed many videos that actually did have licenses for, were valid under fair use claims, or were incorrectly identified as being owned by one of their major supporters (RIAA, Sony, BMG, etc.).
It would be better for the students to use their own music, or to contact artists like Moby who will let you use their songs for free. http://mobygratis.com/film-music.htmlFinal decision is yours. Good luck!
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Speaking of Fair Use License and YouTube...just put this on the
" 2. This video uses copyrighted material in a manner that does not require approval of the copyright holder. It is a fair use under copyright law." when disputing their copyright claim:
"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."
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Even if Edius has Color Correction, it doesn't have the masking feature...I don't really like Edius, because even though it has some features, I think it's a bit...limited? I'm not saying that a program makes the editor - for good movies I heard that programmers make special effect plugins, or even special programs, I'm saying that if you have a wedding project, Edius is perfect, but if you want to make 3 D stuffs, it's more efficient if you use Maya, and then to make it look bad ass and such, I would highly recommend both Avid Media Composer and Adobe After Effects. No offence to any of you, that's just my opinion.