From every corner of the event filmmaking and photography worlds there is talk about music licensing and the state of the industry now that major record companies have actually sued some high profile wedding filmmakers. I want to publicly say thank you to Joe Simon for being so open about his ordeal in this written interview that was like the “suit heard ’round the world.”
In light of all these events, I thought it would be good to dig up a few old podcast episodes of Crossing the 180 related to this topic
- Episode 41: The DSLR 3 Amigos: The was part 2 of my interview with the “DSLR 3 Amigos”: Joe Simon, Patrick Moreau and Kevin Shahinian. It first aired back in September. There’s a great discussion about music licensing that touches on exactly the issue we’ve been discussing on the blog and in forums.
- Episode 33: David Robin: Perhaps the first wedding filmmaker to create a professional shot wedding to go viral was industry veteran, that wedding filmmaker to the stars himself, David Robin. In this episode, David talks about the making of his wildly popular wedding music video.
- Episode 29: Kirby Ferguson: Kirby is the documentary filmmaker world renowned for his “Everything is a Remix” series. In part 1 of the series, he talks about the sampling of music by other musicians. It’s a fascinating series that collectively has over 2 million views on Vimeo alone. In this episode he talks about the making of them.
Podcast Server Transitioning
As I mentioned earlier, I will need to transition podcast servers soon. I don’t know how the transition will affect the current episodes currently online. So, just to be safe, I suggest downloading all the ones you want now. There are over 50 episodes with amazing filmmakers from Hollywood hot shots to YouTubers to wedding superstars. Get them in iTunes.
Hey Ron, great post as usual.
I still think the music industry has it totally backwards. I understand their viewpoint, but I think they are doing themselves a disservice by going after the several artists mentioned in this post and your followers.
For example, I have probably PURCHASED 5 or more songs on itunes, as a RESULT of watching some of Joe Simon’s work. Had I not seen the videos, I probably would have not purchased the songs. So from that standpoint, I think they are missing an opportunity to have FREE advertising for their music.
On the other hand, if an artist was using copyrighted music and then doing a mass selling campaign, in any format, then yes, no problem, sue at will. But if an artist is making a special event film for one customer, they should be able to come up with some kind of licensed arrangement that would be affordable to all, and also generate more revenue for the music industry…really a win-win for everyone. I think they are leaving a lot of money on the table by not extending a “realistic – affordable” licensing option to those that would not abuse the system, if set up properly.