Low Budget Indie Filmmaking : How to Pick a Movie Soundtrack

[JenniferKelmar]

I heard somewhere that if a song is old enough, Beethoven for example, copyright no longer applies and you can legally use the song in films and such. Is this true?

[300monks]

This is ridiculous - he completely glosses over the value of an experienced film composer and/or music supervisor. Choosing music for a film is an art in itself. Emotional subtext is what music provides and being clear with what we want a viewer to feel is so important. Congruency or deliberate juxtaposition of an opposite feeling. The licensing of music is a completely other subject. You can license music from stock music houses and commission a composer for a lot less than you would think

[jazz4]

Music is everything.