Speaking with the legal department at Great American Country TV has opened my eyes to how important getting the clearance to use content and music for productions is. At Great American Country content that is produced usually includes country music stars. When shows are shot with these artists it is very important that release forms are signed so the company knows what rights it has to the footage. At times artists will sign the form provided by GAC but some artists prefer to create their own release form. These forms prohibit GAC from distributing the content certain places, like the internet. Keeping these forms on file is important so future productions can reference the release forms and see in what ways they can or cannot use the content. Failure to abide by the signed release form can result in legal issues for Scripps Networks.
With GAC Being a music television station a lot of what is played over the network is music videos. When music videos are used in a show or video block we must be sure to keep track of how long the video is played, and report that information to music publishers so the proper parties can be compensated. This is all done by composing music cue sheets. These cue sheets hold basic information about the song or video, the writers, composers, publishers, the total time used, and how it was used. Once the cue sheet is completed for each episode it is then turned into companies like SESAC and BMI and the writers are compensated for their work that was used.
It will be important for my company, RJM Productions to conduct business just like GAC. Filing all the correct paperwork for using music and art will help to prevent legal issues further down the road. As stated in our text it will be crucial to get started on this early in the production process so its not to late to change something that clearances are not received for.
