Rebecca Giblin on chokepoint capitalism

Rebecca Giblin on chokepoint capitalism

I have read about cases (but sadly I don't remember any specifics) where film makers fall back to the second choice of song since they didn't succeed in clearing the rights to their preferred song.

It's not exactly the case you're talking about, but the movie Killer of Sheep is an instructive example. It was made as a student film, so the director (Charles Burnett) didn't bother to get the rights to the music, which meant it couldn't be released commercially. It was so highly regarded, though, that it was placed on the National Film Registry for its artistic or cultural value. Eventually, Steven Soderburgh donated $150K so they could buy licenses to all the music, and it was finally released 30 years after it was first shown in film festivals.

I'm not trying to say that directors should be allowed to pay a flat fee and use any music they like without permission from the musicians. But it does show how convoluted copyright issues can get.