Film licencing filter: music video edition

February 11, 2014 5:58 AM

I want to make a music video for my band, and invite people to send us their own home video of a certain kind of public event for us to include. Are there any legal issues here? Please explain them to me like I'm a clueless idiot because, when it comes to film licencing, I am.

I'm so clueless that at this point I feel like there are probably more potential pitfalls to this plan than I can imagine, so I'm not sure what other info would be helpful for me to provide, but any advice y'all can give would be very much appreciated!

posted by greenish to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

...and invite people to send us their own home video of a certain kind of public event for us to include.

Well, there might be issues with this, depending on what sort of public event it was, and whether the provided video includes shots of people who didn't agree to appear in your video. It's a yes-no-maybe sort of issue, imho. It's one thing to have long shots of crowds, and another to have scenes focused on identifiable individuals who are unaware of (and did not consent to) being recorded at the event.

It just all depends.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:16 AM on February 11, 2014

What type of budget do you have? It may be worthwhile looking into some of the many companies that sell royalty-free video clips. At least that would eliminate any legal concerns.
posted by lharmon at 6:16 AM on February 11, 2014

Response by poster: Yes there is a possibility of people appearing in shot who haven't agreed to be in the video, I don't know the law on this in the UK. Maybe we have to blur any shots where individual faces are discernible?

Not much in the way of budget, and I really want to use home videos if possible.
posted by greenish at 7:29 AM on February 11, 2014