Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

i am starting an internet venture and it is a music website and mobile app im gonna be using music content of artists like bb king eric clapton ac/dc pink floyd and many more i.e the original audio and videos of tracks and concerts . im not going to begin advertising at the initial stage but later on i might have to in order to generate money and run the site i have no problems in giving the owners and publishing houses apart of the advertising amount . i would like to know what kind of rights i need for this if any and who should i contact for this


Asked on 11/29/12, 3:14 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

The musical material you mention is certain to be copyrighted, and the rights will in most cases be owned by major music publishers or musician promotion companies. There are firms that specialize in determining who holds copyrights and then handling negotiations between the copyright holders and persons like yourself who have business ideas calling for some use of the copyrighted material. Many years ago, I represented a lady who was in the copyright-holder location and rights-negotiation business, but no longer have any specific information. I think most of them are in the L.A. area, some in New York and overseas, butmaybe you should start by searching the L.A. Yellow Pages (or an on-line equivalent) under headings such as "Copyright Services" or the like until you find someone who can handle your project cheaply and efficiently.

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Answered on 11/29/12, 8:35 am


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