By: Dani Moulton
BLUE BELL, PA--The popularity of Pharrell Williams’ song “Happy” has allowed it to spread in all media circles. But can student media creators use it as well? Despite the song breaking the records chart for becoming the twenty-eighth song to land at number-one on Billboard Music’s Hot 100, the simple answer is no. .
“I’ve had students use copyrighted music in their projects before,” says Allan Schear, Professor of Communications here at Montgomery County Community College. “Even though I told them not to, they uploaded those projects to Youtube, and it got them in trouble.”
Student media creators don’t get paid for this work, so that makes it okay, right? Wrong. Copyright laws protect intellectual property such as songs, images, and concepts from being used by other people, whether the media creator is being paid or not.
On the bright side, if you’re desperate to get Pharrell’s song, or any others, into your project, you can always buy the licensing rights to the song. Usually for a very high price.
Websites like PerpetualLicensing.com and GreenlightRights.com can help you get started on the process of obtaining these rights. However, the safer and cheaper choice for student media creators is to use royalty-free music websites to get unlicensed music and make them just as “Happy.”
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