Legality of Using Album Cover Art & Memorabilia In Book

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achouza
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Legality of Using Album Cover Art & Memorabilia In Book

Post by achouza »

I have a super random question for the swirl.

I am thinking of putting together a book with music memorabilia. 45 record sleeves, gig posters, 8-track tapes.. random stuff.

What is the requirement for getting permission from the artists or labels or graphic designers?

For example those "best album covers" coffee table books or the Total Chaos book from third man, did they get permission from folks to be able to print all that stuff?

Anybody have a clue?
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Stl_ben
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Re: Legality of Using Album Cover Art & Memorabilia In Book

Post by Stl_ben »

You would most likely have to get the right from the artist , the label, and in some cases the artist/photographer that made the images for the cover.
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Datch
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Re: Legality of Using Album Cover Art & Memorabilia In Book

Post by Datch »

Depends if it's for personal use, like max 5 copies which you give away. I think you could get away with it.
If you plan to make more, even like a small run of 50 books, even if you give all of those away, you would definitely need to gather the rights for all the album's/art you want to print.
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achouza
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Re: Legality of Using Album Cover Art & Memorabilia In Book

Post by achouza »

Damn, oh well. I was interested in making at least 50. Theres probably not a huge demand for the stuff I would want to make.

The first book Im starting to plan out is about japanese 45 picture sleeves, which I am obsessed with. ramones, iggy, led zeppelin, stones, bowie, lou reed... some of the best record covers out there

It would just be a huge pain to get the licenses for all those covers
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shaneoftheroad
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Re: Legality of Using Album Cover Art & Memorabilia In Book

Post by shaneoftheroad »

It would be worth the hassle though, if you could get a thumbs up from the rights holders. Nothing worth doing is ever easy. I say give it a shot.
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Jamie
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Re: Legality of Using Album Cover Art & Memorabilia In Book

Post by Jamie »

There may be a difference for album covers compared to normal photographs, especially since the book sounds like it could be considered commentary on said covers. Wikipedia is allowed to use cover art under fair use, as long as they credit the artist/label.
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Stl_ben
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Re: Legality of Using Album Cover Art & Memorabilia In Book

Post by Stl_ben »

Wikipedia isn’t selling the photos.
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