I want to start a small online business creating photo slideshows for customers. Almost like an advanced beatgreets ecards services (how it used to be). I would like to offer the customer the opportunity to give me pictures, tell me the theme, and I put the pictures together and add music to it, preferably a full song. They can tell me the song they want, they can send the sound file to me, or they can tell me the genre of their favorite music and I figure out a good song for the customer according to their preferences. I would like the slideshow to utilize the full song, which I don't really see available anywhere on the net and the pictures will conform to the beat of the song. I can do this for special occasions such as anniversaries, weddings, birthdays, even funerals and breakups, etc. etc... lol.

I need the best information to get exposure on the internet in the most cost efficient way. And also, I would like to insure that I am not sued by the recording artist. I don't want to make money off their song, but I do want to make money for putting the pictures and themes together for the customer. I have done it before, but not on the internet or anything. People told me that I was very good at it, and that's why I wanted to utilize this talent for a service towards others. Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, KMAC73!

I can definitely show you how to get the most exposure for your business on the Internet. Please click HERE (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Clough+Quad+Cities&aq=f&oq=).

Most of what you'll see for many pages will be about my various businesses.

Now, as far as you using the music of others that's not in public domain in order to make a profit, I'm sure that there will be some legal issues with that.

Hopefully, we'll be on here at the same time sometime so that we can discuss the development and marketing of your business.

Thanks!

Thanks for the answer and I will definitely check out your site.

And as the music not being public domain, the music will be available for the public. I'm not doing anything illegal to obtain the music. If I have it, then the music was available publicly in order for me to have it. I equate it to you going to a wedding and the bride walking down the aisle to a song different than "Here Comes the Bride". Doesn't the dj, church, event coordinator, or whoeever get paid to use this song at the bride and groom's request? Why would there be a difference with what I'm doing?

Hi again, KMAC73!

A work that is in the public domain, is one where a work is free for everyone to use without asking for permission or paying royalties because of using the work in a manner whereby the user makes a profit. If it's music that is copyrighted then the use of it is thus restricted, then it can't be reproduced in some sort of tangible form other than the sound produced by the performer.

Public domain doesn't mean that the music is simply made available to the public. If it's in the public domain, then it means that there is no one owning the copyright to it.

People who just perform music, and are not reproducing the music in some sort of tangible form, other than by sound that is not being recorded in order for the performer to make some sort of profit by distributing the recording in some sort of way or ways, don't have to get permission when just performing the music and simply using the recording for personal use. However, once music is reproduced in a more tangible fashion, then that's where permissions need to be obtained and royalties paid, if payment of royalties is required.

There is much information that can be found about copyright law via clicking on the following links.

U.S. Copyright Office (http://www.copyright.gov/)

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf

Also, this quote from the following site should be helpful to you.

http://www.library.ualberta.ca/guides/plagiarism/terminology/index.cfm


Copyright: the legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher, or distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work.
Copyright is the legal protection of literary, dramatic, artistic, and musical works, sound recordings, performances, and communication signals. Copyright provides creators with the legal right to be paid for -- and to control the use of -- their creations. Copyright also provides exceptions to the rights of creators for users, like educational institutions, who want access to material protected by copyright. A balance is achieved by providing creators with legal "rights" and then limiting those rights through "exceptions." Copyright protects only the way information is expressed, not the information itself. Copying ideas, facts, or information in your own words is not copyright infringement, but may nonetheless constitute plagiarism (A Guide to Copyrights 3 (http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/sc_mrksv/cipo/cp/copy2000.pdf)).
The difference between people who perform the music for things like weddings, church, funerals, etc. is that they're most likely not reproducing the music in some other tangible form, like a recording, in order to make a profit for themselves.

I know that this is sort of confusing and the issue can be murky. But, if you're going to be selling things on the Internet that are using the works of others in order to make a profit for yourself, then I would strongly suggest that you find out what you can and can't do.

I'm not certain that radio stations have to pay royalties to the performers whose recordings they play on the air. I know that it's an issue that has been and might presently being debated. Someone else might know more about that, though.

I do know that from my having played in a big band dance band for awhile, that big band dance bands have to pay royalties if the music they play is copyrighted and also that people who make copies of the of recordings of other professional artists in order to produce another recording that will be for distributed for sale, that most of the time, they have to pay royalties. This is how the artists and/or other owners of the copyrights of the works make there profit in order to make a living for themselves.

I'm not trying to discourage you from having this type of business, but I am trying to protect your best interests here.

Thanks!

I recommend a free site that teaches you. It is Renegade Marketing. Here is a sign up link
Renegade University (http://tinyurl.com/dhn9sy)

Enjoy and learn