Not for: Not legal advice, and not a promise about any song or platform. For a specific film or a commercial use, ask the rights holder or a lawyer who works in copyright.
Two sets of rights in one song
A recorded song carries two kinds of rights. One is in the composition: the music and the lyrics, belonging to the people who wrote them, often through a publisher. The other is in the sound recording: the particular recording you hear, usually owned by a music label. A film that uses a commercial track uses both, so permission usually has to cover both. In India, these rights come from the Copyright Act, 1957, and its later amendments.
Who represents the rights holders
Many rights holders in India are represented by collective bodies. IPRS, the Indian Performing Right Society, represents authors, composers and music publishers. PPL, Phonographic Performance Limited, represents the owners of sound recordings. Venues and events often deal with these bodies for music played in public. Whether a body can give permission for a particular use in a film depends on what its members have given it, so ask before you assume.
Three uses, not one
Music played at the venue during the sangeet is one use, and it is the event’s to arrange. Putting a song into the film you deliver to the couple is another: you are copying the recording and setting it to picture. Posting that film publicly, on a social platform or your studio’s site, is a third, and it is the one most likely to be noticed. Each can need its own permission, and a permission for one does not automatically cover the next.
What platforms do
Large video platforms compare uploads with music that rights holders have registered. When they find a match, the upload may be muted, blocked in some countries, carry the rights holder’s ads, or stay up untouched, depending on what that rights holder chose. A film that plays today can be muted later. If the film is part of your portfolio, that risk is yours, not the couple’s, so plan the music for the public version separately.
Your options
Ask the label or the rights holder for permission for the use you have in mind, in writing. Use production music sold for use in videos, and keep the terms you bought it under with the project. Commission original music from a composer, and agree who owns it. Or deliver the film privately to the couple with their chosen song, and make a public version for your portfolio with music you are allowed to publish. Many studios do the last two together.
In Vantacut
The song is whatever file you load, and Auto-Edit cuts to it: the reel is as long as the song and the cuts land on its beat. That makes a second version cheap to make. Run Auto-Edit again on the same footage with a cleared track for the public cut; each clip is only watched once, so that run pays for its own reel’s minutes only. The terms say you are responsible for the rights to your footage and music.
Your footage stays on your computer
Editing, playback and export run on your computer, and your original footage and songs never leave it. To find moments, Auto-Edit shares low-quality copies of your clips, still frames and the speech, and the app asks once before anything is sent. The editor works worldwide, in English; credit packs are priced in Indian rupees.
Questions
Does paying for a song on a streaming app let me use it in a film?
No. A subscription or a purchase lets you listen. Putting the song in a film you deliver or publish is a different use, and it needs permission from whoever holds the rights.
Who holds the rights to a Hindi film song?
Usually more than one party: the people who wrote the music and lyrics, often through a publisher, and the label that owns the sound recording. Collective bodies such as IPRS and PPL represent many of them.
Does Vantacut clear the music I load?
No. The song is whatever file you load, and the terms say you are responsible for the rights to your footage and music. Clear the song before you publish the film.
Get the editor
Windows and Linux now; macOS is coming. The editor is free; create your account when it first opens.