Copyright

In order to use an artists music to produce a music video we had to apply for copyright, this is important in understanding that the artists expressions of their ideas belong to themselves and cannot be copied, especially if published in order for money to be earned. This gave us a very basic insight into how to apply for copyright, but was important in understanding the reasons to why the copyright law is put in place.
There were disadvantages when emailing to ask for permission as mistakes were easily made, the majority of people we emailed failed to reply.
We applied for copyright by sending emails to record labels, companies and directors or managers to the artists. We found details by researching online, for example I sent an email to 'Sam and the Womp' asking permission to use their music in order to create a music video. However I did not suggest that it would be used in front of a small audience and would not be published therefore they wanted a cost of  two million, in order to produce this. This taught me that I must highlight the importance of revealing that it will not be published.  Instead of resending an email though, we became set on focusing on Rihannas song 'Where have you been' which lead us to send a letter asking for approval, also suggesting that it would not be published.
 In order to get permission for an artists music video our group had to start of by researching the artists record company, once this had been identified we had to then look for contact details such as email telephone number. I email a few artists record companies beforehand but they were less likely to respond or acknowledge the email. The most direct way was to call them as this increased our chances of getting a direct reply and saved time, instead of searching for an email which was difficult to find and probably unreliable at times.  Jenna decided to contact the Sony music department to gain permission for Misha B's song 'Home run', she was put through to the copyright department and was given an email address of Elizabeth Peers and telephone number:  +44 207 361 8000,  She was able to explain what our project was and they were able to successfully provide us with the evidence needed. Our group then continued and followed the same regulations for Warner Brothers, where we were put through to Olly Sheppard who helped us in identifying the correct email addresses and phone numbers of people we needed to contact in this industry.

 However as the project progressed and we began to explore the music video and lyrics we decided that we would struggle to invent original ideas as Misha B in particular is mainly concept based and performance, the lyrics its self were difficult to fit with the visuals. The music video would have focused on majority dancing scenes which would not be original as we wanted to produce a narrative.

As a group our attention was drawn to Rihanna as we all enjoy her music and are fans of her so decided to attempt to get permission for one of her music videos. We began by contacting UMPG but this was unsuccessful as they only have 20% of the ownership, this meant we had to then contact Roc Nation, partnered with Jay-Z, another entertainment company which includes artists, songwriters, producers and management.  We had to contact Roc Nation because three of the song writers are owned under Roc Nation, therefore we would need their permission, as Rihanna is a big artist and has produced a lot of songs she has clearly worked with lots of different writers. However as this was only a minority we were then advised to contact EMI.