Thursday, November 8, 2007

A very nice response: Reasonable use update

My quest to get permission for my daughter to add a bit of one of her favorite songs as a sound track to a home video continues. The details are in my earlier posting, Reasonable use for a reasonable fee. On October 29, I received a very nice and friendly response to my request from Rob Hinton of Mesa Records. A response at all was a surprise, and a friendly response (one not written by lawyers) was an even bigger surprise. Unfortunately, it doesn't really advance my quest one way or another. Rob very nicely and helpfully informed me that I had written to the wrong music publisher. Here is his letter.
From: Rob Hinton Subject: Re: Request to use "Dog Walk" in home video Date: October 29, 2007 6:31:44 PM CDT To: Jeffrey Goldberg Jeffrey, How are you? Sorry it has taken us so long to get back to you, it's been a crazy few months here. The song you are referring to must have been under a now defunct or non legitimate Mesa Records. That was/is not us, so we don't have any rights to the song or music. It's pretty funny though, as i have worked with Scott Henderson before in L.A. as a recording engineer. However, unfortunately i don't have his contact info or know how to get a hold of him. Maybe you should try getting a hold of him personally. Thanks and we wish you luck! If you have any more questions, please feel free to e-mail us. Sincerely, Rob Hinton Mesa Records Austin, Texas www.mesarecords.com
The publication information I have for this comes from iTunes where I purchased the song in the first place, simply says "Dog Walk (5:38), Scott Henderson, Dog Party, (p) 1994 Mesa Blue Moon." I realize that it's been a while since I updated this, so I don't know whether I will get back to pursuing this any time soon.