Is limelight music licensing a scam?
Question by The Happy Gamer: Is limelight music licensing a scam?
I am working on an independent film and we want to do an acapella cover of the song, “Gloomy Sunday” to be featured in the movie.
I found this article which at the very end gives a basic rundown of what I needed to know:
http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/2010/07/li…
It linked me to Limelight, which supposedly specializes in securing the mechanical license for any song: http://limelight.rightsflow.com/
I would like to know if Limelight is a scam before I proceed to pay. Please help, an answer is very much appreciated.
Best answer:
Answer by Alex Holz
Hi Happy Gamer,
Thanks for asking – my name is Alex Holz and I work with RightsFlow (the company behind Limelight).
Limelight is indeed a legitimate service. In fact, we just recently became a Better Business Bureau-accredited business (see our report at: http://www.bbb.org/new-york-city/business-reviews/license-services/rightsflow-inc-in-new-york-ny-116129/).
That said, for your needs you would actually need to secure a synchronization license. Limelight does not handle sync licenses as these are negotiable licenses outside the scope of what Limelight does. If you were to put that a cappella recording on a CD, ringtone, or make it available for download via iTunes, Limelight would be the right service to clear the mechanical rights.
To clear the sync rights, you will need to contact the publisher directly. If you email me at alex@rightsflow.com, I’d be happy to look up the publisher information for you and provide it. Who is the original artist who recorded Gloomy Sunday?
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