Music for Slideshows.....

[ShannonW]

I want to use music for my slide shows and DVDs. I know I need to pay a royalty fee or I would really like original scores. I thought I saw a thread on here once but, now I can't find it.

[david_h]

Shannon, a lot of photographers have tried to find a way to be able to license copyrighted music for slideshows without success. It seems that the music companies just don't have a mechanism in place for this to happen.

We provide a DVD slideshow (made with ProShow Producer) with our wedding package and our way around the copyright is for the bride and groom to give us the CD of the music they want and we include it in the show. As they are the owner of the CD, they are permitted to make a "fair use" copy for their own use.

As I understand it, this is not 100% legal although it seems that this is a rather grey area. I don't believe a photographer has ever been prosecuted for using copyrighted music in a slideshow but it's probably only a matter of time.

There are websites where you can download generic music that is license free, or can be licensed at a low cost. I've never used any of these, the brides all seem to want to have their wedding music on the slideshow.

If you check out any of the wedding photography forums, you can read much more about this subject.

[ShannonW]

Thanks I did just this second find a thread on fredmiranda.com and found several links to free music. Thanks again:D