Ask HN: How To License Music Videos?

3 pointsrickdale3 comments

Is there a difference between licensing music and licensing music videos? I would like to license music videos for a fun app. I live in the US if that bears any relevance. I know this is more of a law question, but I am having a hard time finding the right answer and I figure the right people are probably here.

Thanks!

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For anyone else that's interested in music copyright:

If you just want to cover a song, you can get a mechanical license, which have federal-defined rates. There are several sites that can do this(I do dev support for one. If you want music to go alongside images, you're going to need a sync license which I believe is negotiated with the rightsholder. This is why prices for music can vary so much depending on the movie.

What are you doing with the videos? Are you certain you need to license them, and you can't just embed the video via a Youtube API?

That's brilliant. After posting this, I searched music videos on hackernews and came up with the same solution. Do you have any

I am splicing music videos together, only need a minute of each video.

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