Are album covers = public domain?
mannybolone
Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
A historical society I know is putting together a display around music, one that partially involves dozens of different album covers. THey wanted to know if they need clearances to publish the album cover images in their supplemental catalog.I seem to remember that when we included album cover scans for my hip-hop book, they were considered public domain, and thus, did not need to be cleared. Can anyone shed some light on the legalities here?Thanks.
Comments
whenever we use album covers we need to clear it with the label and sometimes even the phgotographer. It depends on whatever deal wsa made between those involved
I'd just assume that most aren't public domain and check in so as not to get in trouble
that has been my experience in the tv world, too...granted it's a specific world. because we were showing covers in conjunction with artists' appearances, there was no $$ involved. it was promo, not simply for the show's commerical gain; it was a product that 'belonged' to someone else nonetheless and we had to have a signed release before putting it on air.
i think it's always best to do the work of (checking into) clearing now as opposed to the work involved with dealing with angry rights owners later.
unless folks are super greedy, i can't imagine them charging a historical society for using the covers for educational purposes.
which part?
Most likely, they were considered Fair Use, not PD. Your book would be seen as a form of journalism. An album cover's purpose is to promote the music contained within, and when a newspaper review prints the album cover next to it, it is an extension of that promotional purpose. Likewise with your book.
not quite,
I'm actually pretty surprised that Oliver got away with not paying for the artwork for his book. As far as what I'm used to anytime youre trying to make a buck off of someone elses art you need to pony up some dough. In TV you can't show any album cover without permission and (usually) some sort of payment.
Promotional or not the artwork is part of the product and should fall under some sort of copyright
Just bringing this up, on Conan, Letterman, Leno, etc. They always show the album of the band that is about to perform. They have to pay to do that? This seems like the most obvious example (well maybe not as obvious as music reviews accompanied by a picture of the cover) of the promotion being the payment. Permission yes but payment? Unless this falls under the part of the quote not covered in 'usually'.
Fair Use does not negate copyright. Album covers are of course protected under copyright. My point is that the way that you use them can be considered promotional, and therefore protected by Fair Use laws.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use
There's no doubt that this is a grey area. However, my point was that this could be considered Fair Use. At no point did I say or imply that copyright was not in effect.
this is what i was refering to earlier. i worked on a show similar to Letterman, etc. in Toronto and we did not pay for showing CDs, books, movie/TV clips, sports equipment (with visible brands/logos) for exactly that reason - it was promotion of that album, movie, etc. in conjunction with someone's appearance on the show. we did have to have a release for it though.
i don't know what type of program Guzzo works on, but on talk shows, folks are usually paid to appear/perform, but the items do not have to be paid for.
Oh ok, just wanted to make sure Conan's people weren't dishing out every time he flipped up Fall Out Boy's CD cover or something. Thanks for the info.
That actually reminds me of something really funny i saw on either Letterman or Leno (probably the former, Leno is the more annoying of the two)...some band played, i couldn't even tell you who it was. The band ended, they went to commercial and came back for that 5 second wrap up before the show is over and the host was like, "And we'd like to thank that band that was too cool to shake my hand." Totally called them out for being rockstars. i'd love to know what band that was if that sounds familiar to anyone.
not public domain, but i would not expect any legal problems unless the supplemental catalogue is something they are going to sell or otherwise profit from and even if that is the case, it would depend on what context the covers are used. in other words, if the supplement looks like a coffee table book about album covers, they are in trouble.
your book was probably ok because it was a critique. is this the same?
also, i would be more worried about the copywritten music than the supplemental catalogue. what does their display involve? are they charging admission for something that involves copywritten music?
If your application of the art is covered under "Fair Use" standards you don't need to contact the copyright owner. Doing so can only offer additional protection beyond the statutory protection already granted.
Fair use is obviously all about context. Newspapers do not have to contact a label or artist in order to run an image of the CD cover.
I am not sure but you could probably skirt the issue by actually displaying the original album covers at the museum exhibit, rather than making reproductions. I believe this would avoid copyright issues altogether. However, if you are going to sell place mats with album covers in the museum store, you would have to get copyright clearance from the owner.