This story would be funny if the underlying topic was not so
serious and important.
I was recently interviewed by a reporter for the Atlanta Daily Report for a story
regarding a local organization that had to take down a video on a website
devoted to the cause of suicide prevention.
The reason for the takedown was that the organization was using a
version of the Fray’s hit song “How to Save a Life” without obtaining a license
from the band’s music publisher Sony Music.
Despite the organization’s worthy public service goals they could not
utilize a version of the song in the video without negotiating a
synchronization license. The video itself dealt with raising awareness of
lawyer suicide, which I learned is a very real and serious problem; quite
possibly an epidemic.
I don’t know how this association ran into this problem in
the first place. It could be that they
made the common mistake of thinking that the Fair Use exception in the Copyright
Act covers all non‑profit uses of music; it does not. I am routinely contacted
by non-profit organizations or other services who are seeking advice in using
music to promote their various causes and they are often surprised to learn
that there is a cost associated with the use. The fact that a proposed use is
non-commercial is only one of the four elements of the fair- use analysis in
the Copyright Act.
The ironic part of the whole story is that the organization
in question was the State Bar of Georgia
– and I poked fun at them by saying “there
are a lot of talented entertainment lawyers in Atlanta”. However, the Bar should
be applauded for bringing this serious issue to light.
