me and friends are organizing a small TEDx conference and we're making a small promotion video for the event. Then suddenly all the copyright issues brought up when we try to use some other good existing videos on youtube as excerpts.<p>Then it gets me thinking. I saw a lot of youtube videos that use other videos and music (the ones where you create a photo album of your trip's pictures and insert a background music, or making an inspirational video with music etc).<p>My question is, is it legal to do so? Do people usually ask the owner of the video/music/pictures before using them in their videos?<p>The other day I submitted a video to youtube and got and email say the music I used is copyrighted by some music group. I, following other videos, carefully put a note in both the video and description of youtube. I know this wouldn't be enough. But how about other tons of videos out there?
"Common Examples of When You Need a Voluntary License Include:<p>. . . Using a sound recording in a movie, commercial or other visual work. If you want to use a sound recording in a visual work, you need a synchronization license, so called because the music is "synched" to the video. You’ve already created your visual work and you want to put some music under it. You want just the music for your movie, commercial, documentary, sitcom, or any kind of audio/visual presentation, no matter where it is aired, even the Internet. Synchronization licenses are granted by individual sound recording copyright owners." [1]<p>Whether anyone comes after you for not having such a license is a different story.<p>[1] <a href="http://riaa.com/whatwedo.php?content_selector=whatwedo_licensing" rel="nofollow">http://riaa.com/whatwedo.php?content_selector=whatwedo_licen...</a>