Should I contact a band for permission to use their music?

August 1, 2010 6:20 AM

Would it be a good idea to write to a band via myspace to ask for permission to use their music in my student audio project? The project (if it's good) could end up on the school's audio website. If it's really good (and I can't say yet that it will be), it's possible I'd want to pitch it to radio programs.

I like the idea of writing to the band directly, but wonder whether this will be (a) an annoyance and/or (b) a waste of time. In other words, I'm not sure whether the band can provide permission or whether I have to deal with their record label to gain this permission regardless of what the band might decide.

posted by brynnwood to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

This is exactly why small bands have myspace pages, to make it easier for people to find their music and get in touch with them for gigs, etc. My dorm throws a big outdoor party every year and we usually find at least one of our bands on myspace. If the band you're looking at is bigger, and it sounds like it is because you're talking about record labels, you might find information about who to contact somewhere on the myspace page. Otherwise, contact the band directly and hopefully they'll point you in the right direction. It will take you 10 minutes to write the email and if the band isn't interested, it will take them 5 seconds to delete it.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 6:28 AM on August 1, 2010

Let them answer both of your questions. Don't worry about annoying anyone.
posted by thejoshu at 7:27 AM on August 1, 2010

I did something like this for a radio show I had in college. Most of the bands were really happy that I wanted to use their stuff. One band said I had to talk to their marketing people (they broke up pretty soon after I heard back from them FWIW). Nobody told me not to do it.

If they don't have a label (which a lot of MySpace bands won't have) then you just need to talk to them. If it's an annoyance they just won't answer you.

Don't forget about Purevolume too, or whatever the kids are using these days. I used to get a lot of stuff from there.
posted by theichibun at 8:23 AM on August 1, 2010

If it's a small band, definitely yes. If it's a multimillion-dollar classic rock group or the like, they probably have no idea that they have a myspace.
posted by wayland at 8:53 AM on August 1, 2010 [1 favorite]

What wayland said. If they're a small, local band then contacting them through their myspace could work, but otherwise, forget about it.

If you actually have a direct contact email address (or snail mail address, I guess) for the band, I think that's a better route to take.
posted by mekily at 9:34 AM on August 1, 2010

Definitely ask, no matter how large the band is.

If Myspace is the ONLY website they have, then use that.

If it's a larger band, they probably have another website with contact information for management, and you should contact them. It's management's job to field these kinds of questions, and if you don't ask and it ends up broadcast, you could conceivable get in trouble, or at least have people pissed at you.

Just ask. For a student project, most artists will say yes.
posted by statolith at 12:37 PM on August 2, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone. I'm filing this under: get some nerve, why don't you?
posted by brynnwood at 3:31 PM on August 3, 2010