one more

[AvsB]

i may have already asked this but here i go............
i was listening to some old mix cd's and i heard a song from the mid 90's(when i was a freshman like 97) and all of sudden my brain went into over drive as i imagined a shortfilm or feature......... can i use the idea from the song and title it the same or do i have to track down the group that did the song?

 

[Cracker Funk]

I don't know nothin about the legalities of your question, sorry. But I wanna know the song. And I wanna know the idea. Do tell.

 

[barnaclelapse]

I'd like to know them as well.

It stands to reason that you'd need to track down the band for those sorts of things, but I could be wrong.

 

[ussinners]

I'm pretty sure you only have to ask permission if you plan on using the lyrics/melody/or song in the movie. If you're just using the idea, there's no problem.

 

[directorik]

ussinners is right.

The idea cannot be copyrighted. Your version of the
idea will be different in execution. But you cannot
use any lyrics, melody or the song without permission.
I would be very cautious using the idea/plot of the
song in addition to the title. A title can't be copyrighted
either, but putting the two together may cause problems.

 

[wheatgrinder]

Curious side bar..

If you said right up front in the credits.. "story inspired by the song "ABC" by "The Jackson Five." However in your movie you make any direct use of the song, or the artists, nothin..

Do you need permission from anybody? My gut says "no," buy my gut says "yes" to 7-11 chili dogs, so I don't really trust it..

 

[Ccolebrook]

Do you need permission from anybody? My gut says "no," buy my gut says "yes" to 7-11 chili dogs, so I don't really trust it..

Lol
Yea I'm not sure. But I do wanna hear about this idea. Music just about always puts me in a world of fantasy.

 

[directorik]

I don’t quite understand, wheat.

If you weren’t going to make any direct use of the song or the
artist but were using the idea of the songs story, why would you
want, up front, in the credits, to draw attention to it?

I might be misunderstanding your side bar.

 

[wheatgrinder]

sorry, Rick.. thats my style.. lol...

If you really felt inspired by a song, and you wanted to express that gratitude. Or for the 100,000 reasons I cant think of why some one would do that..

 

[AvsB]

its a song by Hanson dont judge me please it inspired me for some reason or maybe bc it was 4am and i was restless whatever the reason im gonna do it

 

[Lord of Light]

I'm having the same thing going for me right now. Except it's inspired by a System of a Down song called "Johnny." The only real similarities to the song is the two names Johnny and Roger and the catchphrase "Hello, my name is Johnny", which is part of the song.

Don't know how legal that is, but to me it's more of a gray area. If worst comes to worst I'll drop the catchphrase.