Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York
Copyright for Video/DVD/Internet Broadcast
I record live events at a venue. The
venue announces that the event is
being recorded live to broadcast by
my company on my own website -
so all the artists performing at the
venue are aware of the recording
taking place. If I at some point
decide to use the recording for
commercial purposes (like selling a
DVD) can the artists come back to
me and demand a portion of the
proceeds I've made from the
recording or sale of DVD? Asking all
of them to sign a release form is
not feasible and impractical since
there are up to 20 artists
performing at each venue. Also who
owns the copyright on the
recording? The promoter that puts
up the show does not pay me for
my services. Can the promoter
claim that it's ''his'' show and he
should have a portion of the
proceeds as well?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Copyright for Video/DVD/Internet Broadcast
The issue is not what the venue announces, it's what rights have been obtained from the artists and the authors of the songs or other material which the artists perform.
There are several different copyrights at issue here, and without contractual arrangements granting license to use those rights, any further use, broadcast or sale of a recording may violate any or all of those rights.