Guide Through the Legal Jungle

SXSW Illustrates Phenomenon in Licensing Music for Film, Television, and Multimedia Productions

The annual South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin,Texas is currently wrapping up. SXSW began twenty-two years ago as a small showcase for independent bands and has grown into a massive music, film and interactive technology extravaganza

One effect of the growth is the rise in film, television, and multimedia producers who attend SXSW in search of good music for their productions. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, reporter John Jurgensen profiles SXSW as a source for film and television background music.

The phenomenon is consistent with the advice I often give to my producer clients who want good music for their productions but have limited budgets for music acquisition. I recommend using original music by independent art­ists.

Clinton Campaign Learns the Perils of Stock Footage with the Red Phone Ad

Many of you probably saw news coverage of Hillary Clinton’s red phone ad over the past week.

Stock Footage Actress is Reluctant Participant in Clinton’s Red Phone Commercial

The ad focuses on Clinton’s claims that Barack Obama lacks the experience to serve as President. It shows a series of sleeping children and asks voters which candidate they would want to see answering a 3 a.m. emergency phone call to the White House. One of the sleeping children in the commercial is Casey Knowles.  The depiction of Knowles is from stock footage made eight years ago. Getty Images now owns the footage. 

It turns out Knowles is a staunch supporter of Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy.  Knowles has campaigned for the Obama campaign, has attended his rally, and served as a precinct captain for the Washington caucus. Knowles has laughingly suggested getting together with the Obama campaign to produce a counter ad.

The Downside of Stock Material Usage

There is nothing wrong with using properly licensed stock footage. Producers do it all the time. However, as I discuss in The Permission Seeker’s Guide Through the Legal Jungle and as the Clinton campaign has learned, using stock footage can carry some downsides:

Next Year, It May Be Legal to Watch the Super Bowl at Church

Prior to every Super Bowl, NFL lawyers go on a rampage seeking out and stamping out any threats of copyright and trademark infringement of the big game.  They may have been overzealous for Super Bowl XLII

NFL lawyers sent cease and desist letters to churches demanding cancellation of parties at which parishioners would watch the game on wall projectors.  Even when the church offered not to charge an attendance fee or use the license-protected words "Super Bowl in the party promotions, the NFL was not atisfied. The NFL objected to the size of the screen on which the church planned to show the game, saying the law limits the church to showing the game on one television that is no larger than 55 inches.

As a direct response to the NFL-nixing of church parties, Senator Arlen Specter introduced legislation earlier this month that would amend the Copyright Act and allow nonprofit organizations to display live football games providing that the nonprofit does not charge admission or otherwise receive money in connection with the game event.