[MartynRich]

Hi

I´m putting a song together using samples from various Politicians speeches/interviews etc...(sounds thrilling I know). Does anyone know what the deal is with copyright on these kinds of samples? I´ve got stuff from interviews and from statements in the Commons...

[Paulski]

They gonna drag yer ass to prison for that

I suspect you would need to get permission from the source (news station, etc)

Paul

[Hooded Singer]

I hope you get the chair for this, law breaker. 

[Oldbutyet]

Politicians are public representative whether in government or not so i be very surprise if anyone can hold copyright to any of their speeches/interviews that they do as public representative, but then if they're going to be part of a song i think you need to get in touch with some copyright company or check out any songs that has political speeches in them, just to see if they have any copyright details on this, would be interesting to find out for sure.

Also make sure it doesn't sound like anything Marvin Gaye ever did 

[PaulAds]

I doubt that any of them would want to draw any further attention to whatever drivel they'd previously hoped to get away with.

[MartynRich]

Interesting replies, especially the one about the chair. I could do with a good sit down anyway

I seriously doubt anything would come of it, 1) because of  what Paul said and 2) let's face it, what are the chances of the song going anywhere?

If it does I'm sure they'd be proud of the reminders.

[MartynRich]

Well to give an update, I also asked The GISC of whom I'm a member and they said no way could I use samples without a license. Nothing public domain about it.

Basically I had written a political song, which I rarely do, and used samples from across all parties in a breakdown section. It wasn't going to target anyone in particular. I thought it sounded quite good...especially the Nigel Farage bit making my guitar solo sound amazing. Anyway, I don't know what to do...go ahead and just break the law and get the chair, or what?

[Boydie]

That definitely sounds like the "correct" advice from GISC...

...however, the likelihood of anyone actually taking any action is pretty small and unless it made lots of money you would most likely get a request to take it down

There are plenty of these types of things on YouTube etc. - I lose the ones where they chop up speeches and use autotune to make songs 

I would like to try this one day

I would say just do it and see what happens, especially if you are not doing it "commercially" - IE not selling it, officially releasing it or generating ad revenue from YouTube etc.

[MartynRich]

To be honest, that´s my thinking...

[Bernd]

There were people trying to use Martin Luther King's famous words in that manner. With rather gross results in the form of lawsuits that could get expensive (in the US). The family keeps a sharp eye on how his work is used and licensed...

[Boydie]

That is a good point BERND

I would definitely avoid any "iconic" speeches as these are more likely to be protected - IE Martin Luther King, "they think it's all over", quotes from films etc.

[GTB]

What if you 'impersonated' them? I.e. Isn't anyone allowed to say 'I had a dream'!

[MartynRich]

That did occur to me...but I'm not Spitting Image

[Oldbutyet]

The use of speeches by Martin Luther King is different because he wasn't a politician and to use samples from his speeches would need permission from the copyright owners, and because lawsuits are now a big thing in America, reality TV shows comes to mind, i wouldn't go there.

Well to give an update, I also asked The GISC of whom I'm a member and they said no way could I use samples without a license. Nothing public domain about it.

I presume they're talking about voice samples but im guessing here but i think GISC is playing safe, they rather say NO than say YES because as i said as far as i know a politician is a public representative and anything he/she says as a public representative would be class as public domain, but heres another reason why i think GISC is playing safe, who recorded those speeches you use on your song, was it a TV crew or was it someone from their own political party the reason why i ask is because, if you where there when those speeches where made and you did your own recording of them then again as far as i know you would own the rights to your recording, not the speeches but your recording and heres another reason, just say you where sue, GISC would certainly not want you to stand up in court and say GISC told you those samples was okay to use.

I dont think there was ever a lawsuit brought against anyone for using a politician voice sample on a song even searching google i cant find anything that says YES or NO, maybe get back in touch with GISC and ask them where on the internet can you find copyright law that say you cant use a politicians voice samples on a song.

Really interesting thread this.

[Binladeda]

 My take on this is that is a bit of a grey area.  I am a fan of
 using soundbites in songs, and I am constantly on the lookout
 for stuff that I can use.  At the moment it's Donald Trump

 If some politician or some celeb says something in public, or
 to the public, then I think it's 'fair game'.  However, I don't know
 if that is the way the law would see it.  I have had a song using
 Martin Luther Kings speech on SC for 4 yrs. and have had no
 trouble at all, but then it's only had around 450 hits.  If it was
 to 'take off' I would gladly offer all rights/monies to the MLK
 estate, and happily take the publicity....but that won't happen

 I think a lot of it is about what you do with the soundbites.  If you
 are celebrating or praising someone, I don't think you'd have a
 problem.  If you are slandering or twisting words to say something
 completely different to what was said, then you might get issues

 But in either case, I wouldn't worry about it until your song starts
 to get 'noticed' 

 Interesting thread...