- 15th September 2006,
Article written by Peter Roe
This
could potentially be a major issue for any film-maker. Whilst there is
a certain degree of lattitude given to Education in terms of perfomance
licences and such you cannot expect to use the latest hits from the
charts as your soundtrack and get away with it.
My own conversation with the Performing Rights Society led me to
believe that provided it was for cousework, it was for use solely
within your school, was not for commercial purposes and would not be
broadcast on the internet or other broadcast medium (That includes a CD
or DVD)you would probably be ok. However their advice is that you
should still seek the permission of the copyright holder to be within
the letter of the law.
What is 'commercial purposes'... Thats a tough one, if you are a fee
paying independent school and you are using a track by 'Green Day' as a
backing track for your school promotion video then you are certainly
using it for commercial purposes. Is this any different for a State
funded comprehensive school? No, I don't believe it is, since we are
also funded on a per pupil basis by the DfES we have the same
commercial need to put 'bums on seats', therefore if we make a
promotional video of our school we have an obligation to work within
the letter of the law.
It is worth noting that a really dodgy film can be made to look and
feel great by adding a great sound track. Commercial tracks should not
be used to diguise poor film making, we should be challenging our
students and teachers to be creative and music should always be used to
enhance a film not to carry it.
At the school where I work we are covered under the SWGfL (South West Grid for
Learning) contract to provide broadband and services, one of these is
the Audio Networks production music library & Hollywood sound
effects archive. This archive provides access to a library of music
materials covered under a blanket academic license. Most broadband
consortia within England will also subscribe to this and you should be
able to access the site here.
A useful resource that I recently came across is this interesting
'comic book' that explains concepts of fair use and copyright. Although
it is American, the principles and concepts are the same in English
Law. The book is available as a PDF under a creative commons license
and you can also order a 'real' copy for your library. This makes the
whole idea and concepts of copyright approachable for students in a
form they can easily understand, I personally reccomend this as a
resource for all media educators even if you only read it yourself.
Tales from the Public Domain: BOUND BY LAW?
“Bound by Law translates law into plain English and abstract ideas
into ‘visual metaphors.’ So the comic's heroine, Akiko, brandishes a
laser gun as she fends off a cyclopean 'Rights Monster' - all the while
learning copyright law basics, including the line between fair use and
copyright infringement.” -Brandt Goldstein, The Wall Street Journal
online.