I have a great gig....

[reptilist]

Here's the deal...I am the PR man for a mixed martial arts organization. We put on a show every 3 months but hope to do once a month...It's cage fighting. So, what I do is record the event, edit and burn DVDz...then I market and sell them. The fight promoter gets great publicity out of it and I get all the DVD proceeds. I have been selling them at the fights, but I intend to market them through stores and online too.

One thing that bugs me is this...the fighters enter the cage with background music of their own choosing that the soundman broadcasts...The audience roars and the music blares as the fighters move into the cage. Obviously, I edit out a lot of that material because people just want to see he fights, not all the hype and showbiz...Still, there is sometimes enough of a sound byte to ascertain the musical score(s) in the background...Should I be concerned about it from a legal standpoint? Should I over dub the music with some royalty free stuff or am I pretty safe as is? I mean, you can tell when a fighter has an ACDC song escorting him into the cage, but it is incidental...Not an intentional piece of the soundtrack. What is your impression of this little technicality?

[Ron P.]

What you may find here is a variety of responses, most which have no actual legal merit, meaning do not take it as what the law(s) are concerning copyright.

So what I would do since this is not a small venue you're dealing with, is talk with the promoter. He/she no doubt has (or should have) some attorney on retainer. Find out who that is, and visit with the lawyer about this.

I would think that the promoter and whomever is hosting the fights, should have obtained rights to broadcast those musical pieces for the fighters. If not they could be in for a rude awakening if, for example AC/DC, (et-al <--legal mumbo jumbo for everyone associated with...) decides they need more money, and did not grant license or permission to use their material.

Basically what you're dealing with is a legal nightmare when it comes to copyrights, and should never be attempted without the advice of a professional (anyway they feel they are), ie; attorney, and not just any attorney, one that knows and handles copyright issues. Otherwise I'd be saving all those proceeds, so you will have it to pay whomever decides to make a claim..

[sjj1805]

Please view:
Music Copyright

[reptilist]

Apparently I should remaster the shows I have already produced....Drat!

I have also sent an email to the promoter and the sound man regarding this situation and suggested using royalty free music during the entire show.
We are hoping to expand our program into TV too, so obviously we need to do the background music differently.