What You Should Know About Using Music and Pictures in Your Video.

Years ago, it was common for video producers to use music tracks right from their record or cassette collection and even today I come across videos online where popular music appears to be used without authorization.

Just a few weeks ago, I got a request to put the song of a popular 80's band into a video. Sounds innocent enough doesn't it?

You should know that most video sharing sites require you to agree to their terms of use when you post a video. I don't want to get too legal with you here, but in You Tube's terms of use policy, it's worth taking note of Section 6, Paragraph D (Click here to see it). Basically, you must have permission to use the things in your video that you did not create yourself. Click here for a copy of You Tube's Copyright tips.

We're very careful about how we use music and imagery that is not created by us or our customer. When we make videos for our customers, we ensure that there is a licence in place for use of stock photos or video, and that music is licenced or royalty free. If you're in doubt, just ask us, we're here to help! Respecting intellectual property rights is a very important part of the process in creating videos with ethical integrity and part of creating video that can be used freely without the possibility of recourse.

A professional video production company should be able to steer you in the right direction when it comes to using music and photos in your video so you can avoid any possible consequences of unauthorized use of music or imagery. Here are a couple of examples where the unauthorized use of music can cause trouble for video producers:

• Using a piece of music that is in public domain does not necessarily give you the freedom to use the music as you wish. The performer of the recording or the record company that created the recording have rights to the recording even though the song may be in public domain.
• After the Colombine School shootings in 1998, the Littleton Fire Department in Littleton Colorado, choose to use a Sarah McLachlan song in one of their training videos. The manner in which the video images were used in conjunction with the song raised the ire of Sarah McLachlan's manager and record label. All copies of the video had to be re-called and the songs for which there was no permission to use had to be removed. More details can be found here: People Magazine article.

Videos we make at Orange include a royalty free animated background (for spicing up text graphics like your contact information), we secure the rights to use voice over announcer's audio in perpetuity and in all markets, and our videos come with a royalty-free cut of music. The best strategy however, is to make your video with completely original material. Get out in the world, get creative and have fun!

See you in the pictures!

Neil Scott
President, Orange Internet Video Inc.