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using copyrighted music for trailer

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Viktorian Virk

Hello,
I'd like to use a popular song for the trailer of my feature film. It is too much to pay for it. What would be the repercussions if I simply used it without getting the rights? This is only for the trailer on youtube. Would it be a case of simply taking the trailer down or would the copyright owners go beyond that?

It's a very low budget movie but it has quite a few recognizable names so people may thing it's a bigger budget than it is.

Any info is much appreciated.

Thanks
Vik
 
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Realistically? Probably just take it down (if asked, youtube will pull it. you are violating copyright). Could they sue you? Absolutely.

Safest (and best) recourse is to find an indie artist who has a similar song. Tons of stuff out there on soundcloud or reverbnation. The latter is pretty easy to search by genre or location, if you want to find someone relatively local. Or you could ask a band or composer to work up something similar sounding. Lots of folks around here work for free and/or cheap, depending on what you need. Going this route you can be sure that no one will take your trailer down and no one will sue you, increasing the viability of it as an advertisment tool.
 
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JoshL said:
Realistically? Probably just take it down (if asked, youtube will pull it. you are violating copyright). Could they sue you? Absolutely.

Safest (and best) recourse is to find an indie artist who has a similar song. Tons of stuff out there on soundcloud or reverbnation. The latter is pretty easy to search by genre or location, if you want to find someone relatively local. Or you could ask a band or composer to work up something similar sounding. Lots of folks around here work for free and/or cheap, depending on what you need. Going this route you can be sure that no one will take your trailer down and no one will sue you, increasing the viability of it as an advertisment tool.
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Thanks, your suggestion seems like the reasonable thing to do...
 
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ACTUALLY...

YouTube is the one place it's pretty easy to use pop music. They listen for music and have deals with a lot of labels allowing you to use music in your video in exchange for advertising. It'll put an ad at the bottom of your video and an iTunes link below it to whatever music you use. As long as you only use and host it on YouTube, and it's an artist that it works with (most big artists are) then you're golden.

This is why people can post lyric videos and what not without being busted for copyright violation.
 
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Viktorian Virk said:
Hello,
I'd like to use a popular song for the trailer of my feature film. It is too much to pay for it. What would be the repercussions if I simply used it without getting the rights? This is only for the trailer on youtube. Would it be a case of simply taking the trailer down or would the copyright owners go beyond that?

It's a very low budget movie but it has quite a few recognizable names so people may thing it's a bigger budget than it is.

Any info is much appreciated.

Thanks
Vik
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We rep, a lot of great songwriters maybe we can replace your major copyrighted song.
 
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For sure, but you have the chicken and egg scenario for something like a trailer. Would the video have gone viral without a recognizable pop sing behind it? With something like a trailer where the point is to get the word out to as many people as possible about a product for sale, all the help it can get the better. It's not supposed to make money in and of itself.
 
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PaulGriffith said:
For sure, but you have the chicken and egg scenario for something like a trailer. Would the video have gone viral without a recognizable pop sing behind it? With something like a trailer where the point is to get the word out to as many people as possible about a product for sale, all the help it can get the better. It's not supposed to make money in and of itself.
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You never know what will go viral. Suppose for some stupid reason everyone goes crazy because it's the worst trailer ever made and gets 100,000,000 views? If it uses a pop song without any rights clearances they'll never see a penny.

I'm just making sure that it is understood that any uncleared copyrighted material in any project will negate any possibility of making any profits whatsoever when it comes to YouTube.
 
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