ABSTRACT
Licensing music (“clearing music rights”) can be one of the most frustrating, diffi cult, and expensive tasks a fi lmmaker faces when dealing with third-party materials. Because of this, growing numbers of independent fi lmmakers, especially those working in documentary, are forgoing the use of prerecorded music entirely, relying in whole or in part on hired composers even when their fi lms are about the past. This is a disturbing trend, one that as fi lmmakers, educators, and audience members, we need to resist. Music is part of our lives, culture, and history. Which music best tells the story a fi lmmaker wants to tell should be a creative decision, not necessarily a logistical or fi nancial one.
