The Front Row View (entertainment insurance blog)
How can a film composer or film producer avoid copyright infringement for music?
1 March, 2024 • Byron PascoeHow can a film composer/producer avoid copyright infringement for music used in a film production? Byron Pascoe: The way to avoid copyright infringement with respect to music in productions is to not infringe someone’s copyright; i.e., to create original music. It’s as simple as that. There are only so many keys, chord...
Self-distribution models for film productions: What are the risks?
29 February, 2024 • Dave SternSelf-distribution models (e.g., YouTube) for film productions: Increased or decreased risk and insurance cost? Dave Stern: It’s a good question because it really comes down to: the risk is tied to the exposure. If five people see a movie, the risk is low; if 10 million people see a movie, the risk is high. Something co...
What are considerations around singers performing music in a film?
1 February, 2024 • Byron PascoeByron Pascoe: When singers are singing a song in a film, the first point is that if you’re a producer and you have someone singing in a film and it’s actually them singing (not a recording) a song that exists, you need permission to use the composition in the film. If you are recording someone singing a song in a film,...
Music licenses for non-original music used in a film production
29 January, 2024 • Dave SternHow are music licenses obtained for non-original, pre-recorded music used in a film production? A lawyer explains. Dave Stern: For original music such as a composer who creates a score for the production, you would typically engage the composer directly and have them sign a composer agreement or a deal memo to ensure t...
How do fair dealing and public domain apply to music used in a production?
2 January, 2024 • Byron PascoeByron Pascoe: It’s a general misconception that if only a few seconds of a song or stock footage clip or anything is used, that it’s OK to use; that’s just not accurate. I hear a lot, “Well, if I only use 10 seconds of this thing, is it OK?” And my answer always is no. There’s no “10 second rule”; it’s not like a sandw...
Who can give consent to have music be in a film?
4 December, 2023 • Byron PascoeByron Pascoe: There’s a pretty broad range of types of people and companies who can give consent to have music in film. Approximately 100,000 songs are uploaded to Spotify every day; there’s a lot of music that’s out there. Most music that is created and put out there in the world is created by independent artists who ...
What’s a music exclusion in the context of producer's E&O insurance?
12 October, 2023 • Byron PascoeByron Pascoe: A music exclusion essentially means that you have a producer’s E&O insurance policy but music is not included yet. So, sometimes you need to have E&O well before you know what music is going to be in your film and before you have consent from the music owners to use the music. For example: if some...
IDA Producer's E&O: What is My Distributor / Financier Asking For?
2 October, 2023 • Kent HamiltonDocumentary E&O Insurance | IDA Insurance | IDA Members Insurance Why is errors and omissions (E&O) insurance needed for a documentary? You sold your documentary! You met your distributor requirement of obtaining a three year E&O policy through the IDA (International Documentary Association) program. Congra...
Producers: Buy an E&O policy before going into production or wait?
12 September, 2023 • Dave SternFilm Producers: Buy an E&O policy before going into production or wait until the project has been sold? Dave Stern: I think as an entertainment lawyer, we would always rather a producer’s errors & omissions (E&O) policy be obtained as early as possible, certainly before production would be ideal. In a lot o...
How does SOCAN play a role in helping a film producer ensure that they have their bases covered?
1 September, 2023 • Byron PascoeByron Pascoe: SOCAN is an organization of nearly 200,000 members in Canada, fully composed of music writers and publishers but mostly composed of writers. And when writers write a song, whether they’re a beatmaker or producer or lyricist or rapper, etc., they register themselves as a SOCAN writer member, and they shoul...
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