I am planning to make an animation series on YouTube. The scenes will have sound effects, songs, music. Is there anything I should know about using a song from my CDs in the episodes? Will it be fine just by giving credits to the song artist etc at end? Is it ok to take the sound effects from various movies and cut then add to animation series? What are the things and legal issues I should know? I am no professional, I just like to make up a story and make stick figures perform for me. Of course, I will use my voice for the speaking parts.
You aren't allowed to use someone else's music without permission. What you would need to get is a sync license: http://musicians.about.com/od/qz/g/synclicensing.htm YouTube does have a selection of music you are allowed to use through licensing deals they have worked out: http://www.youtube.com/audioswap_main However, what you can do with the music is limited, and it wouldn't allow you to use the music anywhere except on YouTube. If you hire an artist to record a cover version song, you would only have to pay a license fee to ASCAP http://www.ascap.com/weblicense/ The best alternative is to only use original music. You can probably find a musician through MySpace who is willing to collaborate with you for a small fee. This is music released under a Creative Commons license: http://www.jamendo.com/en/creativecommons ETA: And it's really really important that you are sure you have the rights to the music you want to use before you spend a lot of time on your project. See, for example, the case of "Sita Sings the Blues", in which the creator ran into problems using recordings from the 1920s which she incorrectly assumed were in the public domain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sita_Sings_the_Blues#Copyright_problems