Is Mack the Knife under copyright? I want to use it in a short film and I can’t seem to find anything pointing to it being copyrighted or a royalty free for sure.
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “mack the knife lead sheet“
U.S. Perceptive:
I assume you want to use an audio recording, rather than paying someone to do a cover of the song and then use that in your film under license with the performer.
All audio recordings are protected by copyright and none will be in the public domain until 2035 or later. This is because audio recordings got their copyright protections rather recently and all works were immediately given protection. This quirk of copyright law will last until 2035, when normal durations will once again apply.
And “normal durations” are the life of the creator, plus seventy years. So none of the recordings you are likely to use would have been in the public domain anyway, even if we didn’t have this quirk of law in the U.S.
Mack the Knife (under the German name Die Moritat von Mackie Messer ) was originally published in 1928. The copyright for the sheet music for this song will expire in 2023, based on the copyright law at the time the work was published. So to have it performed on your behalf before it falls in the public domain, you have to license the song with the Harry Fox Agency, getting a mechanical license to record this in the U.S. And the translation to English was in 1958, so you would have to wait even longer if you wanted to have the singer perform this in English (although you could just license that version, if you are having a cover performed).
So, the next question is “how can I use a recording of this in my short film?”
You will have to negotiate a synchronization license with the record publisher of the version you want to use. This is not normally something the producer of a film does directly. Typically a music supervisor is hired to do this job. Because, hey, you are a film producer. The length of your film and the budget don’t really matter that much in this arrangement, this is your role, that is theirs. Perhaps, as with the other jobs on this production, you should hire someone who knows how to do this specific job and direct your additional questions at them.
And yes, budget is going to be a factor for your film. You are going to have to pay money for these rights and likely not a royalty-free deal (which only means a single flat fee, by the way, not completely free. You don’t pay additional royalties every time your film shows, that’s what royalty-free means.)
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Do you mean, as I assume, the melody / song Mack the Knife with text by Bertolt Brecht and music by Kurt Weill? In this case the answer is easy and clear.
The original title of “Mack the Knife” is “Die Moritat von Mackie Messer”.
The copyright laws say that the copyright of a song is death year of the last surviving author (either music composer or text poet) plus 70 years, concretely until the 31st of December of that year. There are details and exceptions in each country, but is irrelevant for this case now in 2018.
Kurt Weil died in 1950. Bertolt Brecht died in 1956.
Therefore, all their works in collaboration (including Mack the Knife) are copyright-protected until 2026 (1956+70 ) and will enter in public domain on the 1st of January, 2027.
So the song is not royalty-free. Can you use it? Yes, but you have to get a license and possibly pay a fee for it. You can cover it (sing it yourself) and the corresponding royalties will go to the estate of both Weil and Brecht. For that particular case you have to ask your PRO (Preforming Rights Organisation), for instance GEMA in Germany or ASCAP in USA about the conditions.
However, if you want to use an already existing RECORDING of this song (or, for the case, for any other song, even in public domain) you have to get the authorisation of the artists that recorded it (or rather their label). Why? Because basically there are two kinds of copyrights and of royalties:
* copyright of the work itself = royalties for the composer and poet
* copyright of the recording = royalties for the rights owner of the master recording.
Sounds complicated? It is complicated – but there are also solutions.
* Wait until 2027 and record the song yourself.
* Pay the license now and record the song yourself.
* If you want t…
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