Legal Question in Business Law in California

Congratulations on wanting to start a video production business and I wish you well. You would think it enough to have the client pay iTunes for the song, and then you could just use it and give it back to the client in your edited DVD. Unfortunately it is more complicated than that. Search for ["synchronization rights"]. What you have described is a situation in which you could possibly be violating the copyright law, but you might also have a low probability of getting sued by the record companies (because you are not publicly distributing anything). Have you tried reading any books or web sites, or searched [how to start a video production business]?

Paying for the music on iTunes would only give you the right to listen to it yourself on your own equipment. It would not give you the right to incorporate the music into a different product, let alone to sell that product for a profit.

Mr. Stone may be right that you will be able to get away with this, but I'm not so sure. The recording industry has been quite aggressive about protecting its intellectual property lately, and it might very well go after you if it finds out what you're doing.

Obtaining the rights to use songs in this manner might not be very difficult or expensive. I recommend looking into it before you have problems rather than after.

Good luck.

I disagree with the other counsel -- you're not selling a product (the music), you're selling a service -- your talents at video editing. The customer is providing you the video, the photos, and because they're paying for it, the music. You are simply assembling them into a viewable format. Your clients are then using the video for their own personal enjoyment, and not as a commercial enterprise. Thus, if it was video of the high school football team's season that you put to music and then sold to the players and their families at a profit, you'd be violating the copyright laws.

You're okay here, proceed on, good luck with your new business.