My apologies if this question has been answered previously, but here goes. My latest B & G used a couple of songs in their wedding that are recent popular country songs. The problem is, the songs were played during important parts of the ceremony, like the unity candle lighting. How do I deal with the legal issues of including them in the video? The easiest thing would be to simply cut them out, but like I said, they were played during important parts of the ceremony. I know the B & G won't want me to leave these parts out. Any thoughts?

Just fire up the search feature and search for Copyright Songs or Legal Song Use, etc..etc.. Then next week when your done reading you should have your answer..:)

I'm no legal expert, but I've heard it said that if you're merely recording what happened at the event you're okay, which better be true because otherwise we'd all have to dub over the sound track of a lot of wedding video footage. Assuming this is correct, then it's the responsibility of the person playing the music to ensure that they have the right to do so, and that's not your problem. What's trickier is when the couple asks you to pull their favorite track off a CD and dub that directly into the video, at which point you're the one making use of the material. In this case you have to decide whether it's worth the small but ominous risk of drawing the attention of the copyright holders, and there's an ongoing debate about how to handle this matter while still satisfying customers.

I'm no legal expert, but I've heard it said that if you're merely recording what happened at the event you're okay, which better be true because otherwise we'd all have to dub over the sound track of a lot of wedding video footage. Assuming this is correct, then it's the responsibility of the person playing the music to ensure that they have the right to do so, and that's not your problem. What's trickier is when the couple asks you to pull their favorite track off a CD and dub that directly into the video, at which point you're the one making use of the material. In this case you have to decide whether it's worth the small but ominous risk of drawing the attention of the copyright holders, and there's an ongoing debate about how to handle this matter while still satisfying customers.

Just wondering, but what if they had the CD, and you used the song off of there, its' basically just a 'backup' well kinda but not really, I don't know; or what if they downloaded the song (and payed for it), then I would think it could be used since they bought the rites to it. I guess this maybe one for an attorney...

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=9613&highlight=Music+Legality

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=40467&highlight=Music+Legality

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=11101&highlight=Music+Legality

what if they downloaded the song (and payed for it), then I would think it could be used since they bought the rites to it.

If you download or purchase a song you didn't "buy the rights to it." Where'd u get that idea? You only purchased the song.