Take Five - Brubeck / Desmond

nickjohnwhittle · Apr 18, 2016

Hi Guys, I'm writing a short film and want to use Take Five (Brubeck / Desmond / Live) (not the video): complete with audience and live feel. I'll be using it as incidental music (i.e., off and on for no more than about half a minute each time) rather than titles.

My question is, who do I approach since this seems to be a public domain video (if I record the sound from it, surely there is a licencing issue there)?

Desmond who co-wrote the track gave the rights in perp to the American Red Cross - but that's only composer's rights; isnt there a licencing issue to take into account also? I have come across one or two record labels that include Take Five in their albums but there's nothing solid.

I'm really hoping someone with good knowledge of UK licencing (buy-out) might come forward with some advice.

Many thanks

Nick

AudioPostExpert · Apr 18, 2016

You need to find out who owns the rights to the video and go from there. There are a lot of potential variables here, clearances from the musicians, composition (syns_rights and recording rights. Even if it's been uploaded legally on Youtube or somewhere else, that doesn't mean it's public domain. IE. For you to use as you want.

By the way, forget a Buy-Out, that's obviously not going to be possible, at least as far as the sync licence is concerned. A non-exclusive regional (UK) license would be more realistic.

G

nickjohnwhittle · Apr 18, 2016

AudioPostExpert said:
You need to find out who owns the rights to the video and go from there. There are a lot of potential variables here, clearances from the musicians, composition (syns_rights and recording rights. Even if it's been uploaded legally on Youtube or somewhere else, that doesn't mean it's public domain. IE. For you to use as you want.

By the way, forget a Buy-Out, that's obviously not going to be possible, at least as far as the sync licence is concerned. A non-exclusive regional (UK) license would be more realistic.

G

Ace, thanks for that. I have to admit I'm flummoxed by this and I can usually work out the logic. If we forget about the video recording for now, surely there should just be one agent/person who, currently holding performance rights to Take Five, can give permission (albeit after payment) for me to use the track in my film? :crazy:

AudioPostExpert · Apr 19, 2016

nickjohnwhittle said:
surely there should just be one agent/person who, currently holding performance rights to Take Five

It's possible but unlikely. You've got the sync rights, the master rights and the clearances of the individual performing musicians to consider.

nickjohnwhittle said:
If we forget about the video recording for now

Whoever created/broadcast that video must have sorted out sync rights, performer clearances and dealt with the issue of a master license to start with, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to create/broadcast the video in the first place. This is why it would be a good idea to contact whoever owns the rights to the video, not because you want the video itself but because you want the info about the audio rights on the video and it's possible the video rights holder is the only person/s who have that info. There are many possibilities though, including that it may simply be impractical to obtain the licenses/clearances you require. I'm suggesting the video rights holder as the first logical place to try.

G