Apple

Check the copyright information on the CD?

I get the impression that they get away with it due to them being big name production studios with expensive lawyers armed with checkbooks.

Originally Posted by Hen_Ichi

I get the impression that they get away with it due to them being big name production studios with expensive lawyers armed with checkbooks.

Well, it's not like they "get away with it", they generally get a license to use music, I think.

Unless they're Glee.

Anyway I don't know if random people can really get permission to use this kind of thing, you might be better off finding an indie musician or something.

Should I have used quotation marks too? :P

Yeah. What I meant was that legally and industry savvy people call em up, negotiate and eventually pay whatever for a license to use for the negotiated purpose.

And yeah, you can try - but big company to a random person I'd imagine the majority of times is "piss off."

I remember my mom got permission to use some music from Rocky in a YouTube video she made. Just had to write letters to the record company and the artist, I think. Don't know who you'd have to get in contact with in Japan, though, because I don't know Japanese copyright law.

To whoever owns the singers.

In a lot of cases it's a good bet it's Victor Entertainment or avex.

It also depends on whether you want to make money off it.