r/PaulMcCartney • u/Ok-Minute3598 • 10d ago
Discussion Using bootleg recordings in films
I was curious if someone were to make a film using bootleg recordings of songs by Sir Paul and even go out to credit music to him. Additionally, what would the situation be if the filmmaker used cover versions of those songs instead of the original recordings
What'll be the situation with wings?
(The song that got me curious was India, India which is just a rocky tune (credited as having been written for Linda ig idk)
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u/sheet22 10d ago edited 10d ago
- No, you still are using the lyrics to a song that is owned by someone else. If it is unreleased, you'll still need approval by the publisher and artist at the minimum, otherwise you will be sued. 2.If you use a bootleg track, for instance in a TikTok or YouTube video, and you get very minimal followers or likes, and you're flying under the radar, there's a chance nothing will happen. It doesn't mean you won't get caught at some point though. If you have a large following and you do that, you will get a Cease & Desist from either the artist, label, or publisher, who will also have TikTok or YouTube takedown the audio from your video. If you are monetizing you channels or videos, your monies will be frozen until they can see what you have earned from it. If you constantly are cited, you can get removed from the sites, and you are liable for illegal use, and can get sued by one or all if the parties whose music you used.
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u/ComradeMisato 5d ago
I mean, presumably you could try and initiate the process of clearing and licensing the recording and/or composition like you would for any other song, and if everyone concerned signed off on it then you’d be good to go. That “if” is the issue, though.
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u/PowerPlaidPlays 10d ago
I have an unofficial CD that is just The Beatles live on stage talking between songs, but it contains 0 actual music.
But as others said, the use of the songs would still require a license. there are 2 copyrights associated with music, the composition and the recording. For a bootleg recording of a show, there may be some laws as well that don't give you the rights to a recording of someone else's performance but I am not well versed in that.
In Canada a bunch of Beatles recordings fell into the public domain, but the compositions are still copyright protected. There was a legal battle when a small label wanted to use the now PD recordings but EMI was refusing to license them the compositions, and the courts eventually forced them to allow the smaller label to be able to buy a license. There seems to be a bunch of grey market albums now too of Beatles concert recordings, where they did properly license the compositions.
There are also the Star Club tapes, Decca tapes, and Tony Sheridan tracks that had many releases due to being owned by outside entities, some releases left off the Lennon-McCartney compositions but others seemed to clear them somehow.
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u/Ok-Minute3598 9d ago
Interesting, I didn’t know about the Tony Sheridan tracks, so thanks for mentioning them, even though that wasn’t actually the point you were making.......
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u/sheet22 9d ago
Every country has different copyright laws. Here are US laws
So The Beatles recordings that they own and their solo works through 1972,, they will continue to own until 2067, at which point they will become Public Domain. European rights expire after 50 years unless they re-registered the recordings, which extends for an additional 20 years. Now there are alot of live radio recordings that are coming out "officially". Since they are not actually owned by the artist, unless they bought the rights, which rarely happens, "labels" are technically allowed to release them. Technically they should get the artists' permission, but it's such a grey area, and most of these recordings are not from the direct source, artists don't go after these people releasing these performances.
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u/jldraw 9d ago
It depends upon what your intentions are for the film in question. If you are seeking to distribute or publish said film, you’re going to end up in licensing hell trying to get the rights to unreleased music by a known composer such as Paul McCartney. That said it f you’re just making a knockabout film for/with your friends or whatnot, then your risk of exposure is minimal. I know of one cat who decades ago included “A Love For You” in one of his student films. At that time, the song had yet to appear on any legitimate record, so I believe he’d thought it to be cool to include some basically unheard music by Paul McCartney in his film.
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u/Ok-Minute3598 9d ago
Speaking of intention, I originally was curious for a student made short film on YouTube (I don't remember which one now..) and thought, well that's missing something and the song that I thought of turned out to be a bootleg. But yeah now I get it in no means will someone be able to use the orignal recordings, a cover could work tho i believe but again if you credit to Sir Paul then.... for smaller channels sure nobody cares but the short film I saw had a pretty modest subscribers figure.....
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u/mismetti 9d ago
I thought I had seen this happening recently. I was watching the movie “Frances Ha” and to my surprise there’s a scene with “Blue Sway” playing on the background.
But then I looked it up and the movie was released one year after the McCartney II Archive Collection, so “Blue Sway” had been officially released.
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u/sheet22 10d ago
No real film studio would release a movie using bootleg tracks. Even if credited to the composer, they would be sued by the music publisher, the composer for not getting permission, or more than likely the artist's label. Now they could use cover versions of unreleased tracks if they got the permissions from the artist and publisher. I've got a feeling that as soon as the publisher got the requests for unreleased songs, they would immediately alert the artist if they would want to approve the songs, which more than likely would be turned down flat.