Local Boston Artist Launches Healing DVD

Over the course of the last few months, I have had the privilege of representing one of the kindest and sweetest artists in the Boston Area - Ms. Linda Dehart, a seasoned and talented artist specializing in watercolors. In October 2008, Ms. DeHart approached myself and a colleague witha big dream: she wanted to create a DVD that synchronized 1,000 of her watercolor paintings to ten pieces of healing music. This project was going to be massive and unlike anything she had ever undertaken; it would require a full web team, a marketing and PR team, and organizational team, and, of course, a legal team. From a legal persepective alone it required substantial drafting and negotiating of 3 separate copyrights: a synchronization right ("synch"), a master use right, and a public performance right (as the DVD would be marketing to health facilities who would play it publicly at their offices, in patient rooms, etc).

A quick copyright diversion for those interested - copyright owners hold 6 "exclusive" rights: the rights to 1) copy/reproduce; 2) distribute; 3) create a "derivative work"; 4) publicly display; 5) publicly perform; and 6) perform publicly via digital transmission. If you wish to do anything with a piec that someone else wrote/painted, etc., you need to get specific permission (except in some instances where you can go through one organization that issues that type of license). When you "synchronize" music to any image, you must negotiation straight with the copyright owner. Luckily, all of the artists Ms. DeHart was working with own all their own copyrights, save two, which were own by record companies. So on my end, there were 10 licenses to negotiation, each with 3 different rights in them.

This was the first project that I had licensed from beginning to end, and I was honored and proud to be a part of it. The launch of the DVD was last night at the British Consulate Offices in Cambridge, MA and it was just beautiful. I would urge everyone to visit www.dehartart.com and check out the samples of each of the tracks, which are designed to offer a broad range of healing, from a mere moment of repose to relief from serious pain. I hope you will find them as relaxing as I did, and in such a busy world, I believe we all deserve a moment to ourselves during the day.