My wife has done these in the past: using old family photos set to appropriate songs as a video slideshow for family funerals. We'd like to add this as a service we offer, but have run into some confusion about licensing/royalties as regards using actual (non-royalty-free) songs. Has anyone run into this before?

I know for sure that we need a synch (sync) license to put the song(s) to video, but I think we need a master license for public showing, although I'm not sure on that. I found a site (zoomlicense.com) that supposedly licenses some songs for you on the cheap, but I have to create an account to see their song list.

Any ideas?

This is a beautiful service. I have benefitted from this service in the past - through the funeral home (don't know if they do it themselves or had contracted out).

Would definitely contact funeral homes and churches in area you would be servicing and see what they know -- and if they need the service.

@Deb

Again, I never thought to go to the source! We have a few funeral homes nearby, so hopefully at least some will be helpful and welcoming!

Thanks!

I hope so too! ALSO - it is a VIRTUAL business -- I would start locally but then you are free to spread the circle of the radius of your networking...

Perhaps go to nursing homes and retirement centers and make these available to seniors and their families to enjoy together

When talking with pastors, youth pastors too - they may use additional services like this i.e. collage of past celebrations etc. --

Contact business that is celebrating an anniversary or opening an additional location -- these would be great candidates too for this wonderful walk down memory lane

Very interesting service concept - I hope this pans out for you and will be interested to hear how it goes for you when you start marketing this one.

I like Deb's additional ideas of potential clients for this service too!

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To get back to your question about licensing music - I've dealt with this in the past by working with music that is in the public domain. There's fewer options than if you were to pay, of course, but this music can be used freely for any purpose so if you find a song you like, it can be perfect.

The folks at http://www.publicdomain2ten.com/ have compiled a nice collection, and you can also try Googling for other sources depending on the style of music you're looking for.

I think this sounds like a great idea for a service and it has inspired some new ideas for my own services, too. Thank you for sharing and good luck with developing this new part of your business!

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Liz
Blue Canary Design & Virtual Assistance

Yes, I would check with the licensing on the music you use. I was working on a video for our grandmother and we wanted to use some of her favorite music.

To make a long story short, I ended up contacted the company that owns the rights to the music (Sony or someone big like that). I told them what I was doing and they gave me permission to make 100 copies of it as long as I didn't sell it. They sent me something in writing to document that. I also put them in the credits of the video.

If you are doing this as a service, you may have to pay some sort of fee for using music, depending on the music you want to use.

Wish you the best!