“A character in my film is singing a popular Frank Sinatra song (New York New York). Can I include that in my movie when I post it online? I’m not using the Frank Sinatra version or any copyrighted music (he’s singing acapella).”
Section 6 of the Copyright Act says:
“The term for which copyright shall subsist shall, except as otherwise expressly provided by this Act, be the life of the author, the remainder of the calendar year in which the author dies, and a period of fifty years following the end of that calendar year.”
Public domain includes creative works, owned by nobody, and the time period is set out above. Since Sinatra music is not public domain, then you need a synchronization license (per the Canadian Musical Reproduction Agency) to exploit the composition, and a master license to exploit the recording. To be clear, if you are not using the original Sinatra recording, but someone on camera is singing the song, you still need to clear the rights through a synch license to the composition – it remains protected so long as not public domain – and, in the US, copyright can be renewed to go beyond the normal public domain periods. More information can be found here: http://www.cmrra.ca/faq/synchronization-licensing/
The Queen’s Film & TV Research Group are not lawyers, and this is not legal advice! For more information on copyright law, please see the Copyright Law section of this site. Find out more about Queen’s Law on their website, and Pro Bono Queen’s at the PBSC Queen’s site.