Don’t worry too much, though, 16 bit is still “CD quality” and will be fine. Lastly, I record my podcasts in MONO. You probably will too unless you feature music as a major component of your podcast. A few seconds of a theme song can live in mono, it’s not a big deal, and your file will be half the size in the end.
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- 1 Can a Copyrighted Song Be Used in a Multimedia Presentation?
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As a business owner or entrepreneur looking for bang-for-your-buck advertising, you know that a short clip of a high-profile hit is a powerful attention-getter. You may have heard of 'fair use,' a copyright provision that permits you to use 10, 15 or 30 seconds of music without copyright obligation. That is, you understand that you can use a short section of a song without paying a fee. Yet, you're wondering how exactly this works.
The short answer is that it doesn't work. The 30-second fair use rule is a myth, particularly for commercial use, such as with a radio or television ad. Copyright law is complex, and even when your fair use reasoning is valid, there are other circumstances that may still prevent you from using the music you want without obtaining permission.
Understanding Fair Use
One of the first things to understand about fair use is that it's not a law or an exception to copyright law. It's a defense used if you're named in a copyright infringement claim. This defense, when successful, allows the limited use of a copyrighted work without obtaining the copyright holder's permission. Every infringement claim considers fair use on a case-by-case basis.
What fair use is not is a blanket standard that covers every situation where a defendant claims this exemption. When you rely on fair use reasoning, you'll need to accept some level of risk.
Researching Fair Use
There are two important bellwether questions to ask about a copyrighted work for which you intend to claim fair use.
- Is the work protected by copyright?
- Was the work obtained from a legal source, in a lawful manner?
If your answer is yes to both questions, then fair use may be possible, however this is only the first step in a chain of measures that verify fair use. Answering 'No' to question one may mean that fair use doesn't apply because a work is in the public domain. You must be careful here, though, because copyrights apply to both composition and recording. So Beethoven's Fifth Symphony may be a public domain composition, but a recording made by an orchestra last year is still actively protected by copyright. Answering 'No' to question two means that, even if your use of a work is consistent with fair use, taking a copy from an unapproved source invalidates fair use.
The Copyright Act Criteria
The measures against which use of a work may be deemed fair are:
- The purpose of use: Commercial, for-profit use is not fair use, while commentary or criticism may be.
- The nature of the work: Quoting factual work, such as a history book, for example, may be fair use. Since music is interpretive, it's more likely to be protected.
- The amount of use: This is where the 30-second rule is debunked. Small portions of a work may be permitted as fair use, while the entire work is not. However, there are no specific guidelines for infringement.
- Market effects: If your use interferes with the marketability of the original work, you'd likely be ruled against in a fair use claim. While it could be argued that a fair use criticism might decrease sales and affect the market value of the original, this criteria looks for fair use becoming a replacement for the original work.
The No-Risk Music Option
The only way to be completely safe with music under the fair use argument is to avoid it altogether. Royalty-free music services provide original music that you may use under their terms, which are frequently non-existent upon purchase. If your heart is set on the latest hit, the safe route requires obtaining the appropriate permissions and licenses for the work in question. The reference below lists the organizations in the United States that issue these permissions.
References (3)
Resources (3)
About the Author
With degrees in Photography and Recorded Music Production, Scott spent over 20 years as an Operations Manager with Kodak before starting a second career as a freelance content creator specializing in business, accounting and tax topics. Periodicals include FIVE Magazine and Your Business for the Your Magazines Canada group and online clients include TurboTax, Office Depot, Hyundai USA and VISA. www.shpak60.ca
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[…Imagine Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” playing in the background…]
Look, if you had one shot…
One opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted…
One moment…
Would you capture it…
Or just let it slip away?
Yo, his Palm Treo is sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy…
There’s Starbucks on his business coat, it’s a spilled Tazoberry…
He’s nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready…
To drop an Elevator Pitch, but he keeps on forgetting…
Alright, maybe dropping an elevator pitch isn’t that extreme, yet it’s an important business tool for any entrepreneur to have. According to Wikipedia,
An elevator pitch is a brief overview of an idea for a product, service, or project. The pitch is so called because it can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride (say, thirty seconds).
When I was first asked to write an elevator pitch, the first thing that came to my mind was,
Why is an elevator pitch so important? I’m bootstrapping my business – I don’t need any funding so why should I even care about an elevator pitch?
Well, I later came to find out that the process of formulating an elevator pitch brings to light many basic things that an entrepreneur must consider about their business. Even if you’re not looking for funding, an elevator pitch can help you figure out what’s at the core of your business.
There are numerous ways to formulate an elevator pitch; one thorough and useful method is K. Stone’s How to Craft a Killer Elevator Pitch That Will Land You Big Business. Yet as I mentioned before, many methods exist so search for one that makes the most sense to you. I found the following tips to be useful when I wrote my 30 second elevator pitch:
- First, avoid the cookie cutter – “insert your name here” templates that you’ll find littered all over the net. You want your pitch to stand out and be unique, so give it life and personality by allowing your pitch to paint a picture or tell a story.
- If possible, use a tag line yet avoid sounding cheesy – your elevator pitch isn’t a sales pitch.
- Stick to hard facts and numbers! Avoid assumption or BS’ing; you’ve got to instill integrity in your message.
- Make the pitch easy to understand; avoid acronyms or any jargon that your intended audience won’t comprehend.
- Focus on the opportunity/problem you’ve encountered and why your solution is the most unique in providing value and benefit to the customer. *This part will comprise the bulk of your elevator pitch, so be sure and spend some time figuring out why your product stands head and shoulders above the competition.
- If possible, mention the size of your market and who would be willing to pay for it.
- If you’re pitching to an investor, mention their return on investment and how much funding you’re seeking.
- Last but not least, make sure it’s only 30 seconds long. Doing so will force you to trim the fat from the pitch and only focus on what’s really at the core of your message.
Once you’ve created your elevator pitch, memorize it completely and try it out on your friends, family, and colleagues (try cornering them into a cubicle). When reciting your elevator pitch convey passion, confidence, and instill some of your personality into the pitch. It really makes a difference when your message has some feeling to it.
Now onto an example, here’s one from Intel for employees to use,
“Intel, the world’s largest silicon innovator, creates products and technologies that change the way people live, work and play. Whether it’s a mobile lifestyle or a new way to enjoy entertainment at home, Intel is helping people all over the world accomplish things they never before dreamed possible.”
As I mentioned before, there are hundreds upon hundreds of examples out there if you look for them. So instead of repeating them here, I will point you to one of the nicest sites for Elevator Pitch examples that I’ve come across on the web, Aaron Post’s Your Elevator Pitch site. [Updated 04/19/2008] Unfortunately, YourElevatorPitch.com is no longer accepting or displaying pitches due to changes being considered by the site creators; I will update this blog if and when the site is functional again. For now, you can try out these resources for elevator pitch advice and examples:
- TechCrunch Elevator Pitches is a community video project that allows entrepreneurs to pitch their business idea to the general public and have it voted and commented on by viewers. Please note that this particular project allows one minute pitches, yet there are lots of submissions and examples so be sure to check it out.
- Twitpitch is an idea by Stowe Boyd that forces entrepreneurs to really focus their message by constraining their elevator pitch to fit within Twitter’s 140 character limit. You can see some of the early Twitpitches here: Web 2.0 Expo Meeting Scheduling: Twitpitch Me!
- Indiana Entrepreneur Bootcamp’s March 20th 2008 competition is a humorous live recording of three elevator pitches given by Purdue University students.
- Vator.tv is a video site featuring a rather non-traditional spin on the elevator pitch. The site navigation is a bit lacking in my opinion, but there are plenty of video pitches by numerous companies and entrepreneurs.
- StartupNation’s August 2006 Pitch-Off Contest is a 30 minute podcast featuring six entrepreneurs competing for StartupNation’s best elevator pitch of 2006.
- Last but not least, you can find additional elevator pitch resources on my del.icio.us elevator pitch tags
If you have an elevator pitch resource that you would like to share, feel free to mention it in the comments below!
Sincerely,
The Closet Entrepreneur
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