Skating on Moffat Lake

On a sunny Sunday afternoon in February, five of my friends and I went skating on Moffat Lake, beside my home. I had just started playing with muvee Reveal and intended to take some videos to play around with. When it came time to make a video from them, the song that popped into my head was "Hockey" by Jane Siberry. When I made it I was impressed how well it all went together. Jane was singing about skating on the frozen river on a Sunday afternoon and it all seemed to fit so well. The one little problem was that we had not taken very many, or very long videos, so the final result ended cutting off the end of the song (we had only shot a total of 2 minutes 36 seconds of video, and the song was 3 minutes and 58 seconds long). Yet it still produced a very nice movie.

So I got permission from my friends to put it up on YouTube. Within hours I received notice that the song may be owned or licensed by WMG and the audio track was removed.

I've already mentioned that high speed internet is not available to me at home, so YouTube is something I had only heard about, and these are my first experiences with this medium. When I had done a few of my initial videos, my friends seemed to enjoy them and suggested I put them up on YouTube.

I had wondered about copyright and privacy issues - I don't want to violate anyone or anything. Videos for my own viewing don't really concern me - it should be no different than any other music on my computer or mp3 player. My friends said that there are lots of videos on YouTube using music and they didn't think it should be a problem and if it is, YouTube would let you know. I try to include the music in the credits (but the program only gives you a limited amount of space for credits), and one friend suggested that may just trigger a copyright complaint, but I felt it was better and fairer to give credit - they deserve it.

I have limited experience with copyright and licensing issues, but I do work with artist Marcio Melo who regularly receives requests to use his paintings (for CD covers, in books, in blogs, for background projections, etc.). We have basically made up our approach as we go along, but it boils down to this - the artist is flattered that people want to use his imagery (and in a way it is in his interest to expose it to as many people as possible), but being an artist is his career - the way he makes his money. So we look at each request, For non-commercial uses (blogs, personal use, some school applications, etc.) he gives the license at no cost. For commercial applications he uses the guidelines set out by Canadian Artists Representation Copyright Collective Inc. (CARCC) (their fee schedule can be found at http://www.carcc.ca/feeschedules.html) as a starting point an look at each request on its merits.

I consider the videos that I put on YouTube as being non-commercial (if you know of a way that I can make some money from them, or would like to buy one, please let me know).

As for privacy we always try to seek approval from those in the videos (with footage of students I think it is necessary), but I didn't ask anyone in the crowd in the Carnival in Torremolinos if it was okay (I hope it is).

My first few videos on You Tube were fine, (Thank you Coldplay, the Killers and Angela Burke!) but when I put up the video for St Johns School, I received a notice that "I Feel It All" by Leslie Feist may be owned or licensed by UMG and would be removed from the video in several countries but would still be able to be seen in Canada (which is most important for the students of St. Johns School in Quebec).

I did want to try and resolve this, so I searched for some contact with Leslie or the UMG. UMG's website did not seem to offer a contact to inquire about licensing, and Feist's self-named website doesn't seem to have a means to contact her. So Leslie Feist, or UMG, if you are out there I would like to discuss getting a license for the use of your song "I Feel It All" on my YouTube video.

At first when I received notice about Jane Siberry's "Hockey" being muted, I was starting to wonder if it was some Canadian thing to be so uptight about seemingly trivial copyright violations since it was only songs from Canadian artists that caused a problem.

I decided to try to contact Jane Siberry or her company, and it was easy to get her email from her website. I explained the situation and hoped that I might get permission to use the song. I was pleased as punch to quickly receive an email from Issa (the artist formerly known as Jane Siberry) explaining that WMG had the copyright restriction and there was nothing she could do about that, but she generously sent me a live version of the song which she owns and gave me permission to use it. I was thrilled since Jane Siberry has been a bit of an idol/star to me and whose music I enjoy immensely. Thank you very much Issa! And the legal song produced a better version of the video too!