Audio and Video You Can Use Freely: Seeking Permission

Sometimes you just can't find a suitable work in the public domain, or subject to a Creative Commons license, that enables you to use the work in the way you want to. So what do you do now?

Be flexible. Is there any way you can change your own work so that you can use an available permission-free work? In the film, TV, music, and publishing industries this happens all the time. So be a professional. Don't compromise your standards, but be flexible.

Know how you intend to use the work you create. If you are creating a work to fulfill an assignment for a class and the work will only be shown in the class or handed to your professor, or even if the work will become part of your job seeking portfolio, then you have great latitude for making fair use of copyrighted works, but if the work is to be placed on an openly available website or published or generally distributed in some other way, then you have much less latitude.

Consider linking not copying. Copyright is all about copying, right? If you don't copy, display, perform, or distribute you don't infringe. So consider inserting a link to the work rather than a copy of the work if possible.

Don't forget the millions of copyrighted works available to you from the Olin Library. As a student or faculty member at Rollins you have access to millions of articles, e-books, images, sound recordings that have already been licensed for your use in education, research, and scholarship. Admittedly, you do not have the right to re-publish those materials, but we have already paid good money to make them available to you as long as you don't share them with the world (just others at Rollins.)

Finally, grow your own. Have you considered writing your own music, creating your own video, or image? In some cases it may be easier for you create your own rather than seek permission.

Some times you just have to bite the bullet and seek permission. before you do, make sure you have the following:

Research who the copyright holder is. Most rights owners make this very clear, look for the copyright symbol and the contact information. But if not, we can help with this.

• Know exactly how much of the work you want to use. How many seconds of video, or of sound, and which seconds, which image, or portion of the image.
• Know how you want to use the work. Do you plan to publish in a book, use as it as the sound track on a video, insert a clip in a website, etc.
• Know your audience. How widely do you expect the work to be distributed? Will it be openly accessible on the web or just shown once at a performance on campus?
• Plan ahead. it can take up to six weeks to get permission, you may end up negotiating with the rights holder. You also want plenty of time to change your plans if you do not get permission.
• Be respectful and professional. Remember you are asking to re-use someone's creative work. This could be their only source of income, or you could be dealing with a major publisher or corporation. In either case, professionalism and respect will go a long way.
• Make sure they understand who you are. Are you a student, a faculty member with no grant funding, or working on behalf of a small community agency? Sometimes a rights holder will make an exception for a worthy cause, but be prepared to be disappointed.
• If you don't ask you don't get. By all means ask for permission to use the work for free. But be prepared to pay, and be prepared to negotiate.
• Don't be surprised by different layers of copyright. You may think of it as one work, but many works -- particularly those involving sound and image -- have multiple rights owners. For copyrights in the music, in the musical performance, in the photographs, and the text.
• Give credit, where credit is due. Offer to give them credit and attribution, but you would have does so anyway, right? To avoid plagiarism.

OK, with all that in hand, here is where to go.

Look for the © symbol. Very often that will indicate who owns the copyright. Find their website and look for contact information for something like the "Permissions Department." If in doubt send a general message to the contact and follow up a few days later with a phone call or e-mail.

For film - look for the distributor or the producer

For music -- try the following large agencies. Harry Fox (for mechanical and digital rights), ASCAP (for performance), BMI (for both.)

For photography -- is generally handled by the individual professional photographer, or by large image collections, like Getty Images, or Corbis Images, where you have searched for and found the image.

This guide on using public domain materials, Creative Commons licensed materials, and copyright law is provided for informational purposes only.  I am not a lawyer and cannot provide legal advice.  None of what you read in this tutorial should be construed as legal advice.  Should you require legal advice, please contact an attorney.   

This guide is based on a guide orginally created by Tammy Ravas, Visual and Performing Arts Librarian and Media Coordinator of the Mansfield Library at the The University of Montana. All errors are, of course, my own.