legal issues with using clips from movies

[in10shun]

I was just putting the finishing touches on a song and I want to use the line from the movie Amadeus where his majesty tells Mozart that his work has too many notes and that he should cut a few. Obviously that little soundbite is copyrighted material and whoever has the rights to it would probably want money for it. But people do stuff like that all the time, so what's the procedure? Who do you call about something like that? How could you find out who's permission you'd need to be legit? Do you need some legal document from the person or is verbal consent good enough? Hopefully I'm not the only one who wonders these things. Thanks.

James

[pk_hat]

Originally posted by in10shun:
Hopefully I'm not the only one who wonders these things. Thanks.

James

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">No, you're not. I'm very much into sampling film dialogue as well and for a long time was tormented about the clearing issue.

It simply comes down to this...

If you're not signed with a label and feel that the movie clip greatly enhances your song, by all means use it, because technically speaking, you're not selling someone else's work, you're simply borrowng it to enhance your own. If you plan on seriously shopping your demo/album to labels and they show interest, you'll have to notify them (most likely they will pick up on it) of the use of that clip, in which case they may decide to clear it for you (for them, really).

If you are going to use it and post it on various 'please hear my music'. mp.3 type of sites, include a little note that you used the sample for demo purposes only.

As for the core of your concern, if you plan on clearing it yourself, there is a site specifically designed for that purpose, although the name escapes me. A Google search may reveal it, something similar to 'sample clearance.com' or other.

good luck.