The basic protocol for obtaining permission in using most copyright materials (Especially for commercial purposes) is to normally contact the organization or company who represents them, obviously it is only good practice for me to still and try and contact their owners before using their music, even if it is only for a school project.
And so here are some of my attempts in contacting certain companies (While also trying to be as polite and formal as possible) for permission in using their music:
"Always With Me" by Youmi Kimura (Japanese, Romanji and English Lyrics Here)
The song used for the end credits of Spirited Away, with its sweet melody (As well as the fact that the singer has a lovely, almost motherly sounding voice) and lyrics of inner strength and continuing on into the world with a strong if not positive outlook of life, despite whatever obstacles that could come in one's way, if one believes in him or herself, they can make it in the end... I honestly found it to be a good choice for my animation.
I found it unbelievably difficult to find a proper email address (Especially since Youmi Kimura's official website is mostly in Japanese with no English version whatsoever), and so my next action was to attempt to contact the composer "Youmi Kimura" for permission:
"Dear Ms Youmi Kimura,
I absolutely adore your music and was hoping to seek your permission in using one of your songs "Always With Me" for a school animation I am working on, it will in no way be used for any commercial reasons and will only be used for my school project (Which is a short animation based on the book "Totto-Chan"), and of course, you will be credited.
Thank you for taking the time to read my email and I hope you have a nice day!
Yours Sincerely,
Rebecca Wong"
And when I didn't hear a response for awhile, I tried again, this time sending in a japanese translated version of my original email:
"親愛なる氏 木村 弓
私は絶対にあなたの音楽を崇拝し、私が働いて学校のアニメーションは、「常に私と一緒"あなたの曲のいずれかを使用して、あなたの許可を求めることを期待していた、それは決して商業的な理由のために使用されるだけに使用される私の学校のプロジェクト（ブック「トットちゃん」に基づいて、短いアニメーションされている）、そしてもちろん、あなたが入金されます。
私の電子メールを読むために時間を割いていただき、ありがとうございますと私はあなたが良い一日を持っている願っています！
敬具
レベッカ·ウォン"
It was about a week later that I had surprisingly (I honestly did not expect to receive a response humorously enough) received a polite response from Miss Youmi Kimura's music office:
"Dear Ms. Rebecca Wong,
This is Youmi Kimura's Music Office. We are sorry for not being able to answer your email sooner. Youmi is very happy to know that you have listened to her music and love her songs.
Regarding the permission for using "Always with me " in your school project, however, the master rights of the song are owned by Studio Ghibri, in spite of the fact that Youmi is the composer and the singer/player of the song. So we suggest that you would contact Studio Ghibri for the permission for you to use the song in your school project.
Thank you very much and we wish you a good luck on your project.
Sincerely,
The staff
at Youmi KImura's Music Office"
It was then I once again attempted to find a way to contact Studio Ghibli, barely managing to find an email address that I wasn't even sure was the right one to send such a request to (This time I had also included a Japanese translated version below my english message as well):
"Dear Studio Ghibli,
I have been redirected here by Ms Yumi Kimura's Music Office to humbly seek permission in using one of your songs "Always With Me" (Which was used in Spirited Away_ for a school animation I am working on, it will in no way be used for any commercial reasons and will only be used for my school project (Which is a short animation based on the book "Totto-Chan"), and of course, credit will be given.
Thank you for taking the time to read my email and I hope you have a nice day!
Yours Sincerely,
Rebecca Wong"
"親愛なるスタジオジブリ、
私は謙虚に私が働いて学校のアニメーションは、「常に私と一緒"あなたの曲のいずれかを使用して許可を求めるために、MS木村弓の音楽事務所がここにリダイレクトされている、それは決して商業的な理由のために使用されるのみとなります私の学校のプロジェクト（ブック「トットちゃん」に基づいて、短いアニメーションされている）、そしてもちろんのために使用される、クレジットが与えられます。
私の電子メールを読むために時間を割いていただき、ありがとうございますと私はあなたが良い一日を持っている願っています！
敬具
レベッカ·ウォン"
I came across this song when I was still doing my research for the book, I had at first panicked when I came across this trailer (Believing that a TV show or movie had already been made for the book I had chosen), before learning that it was simply for the book itself.
The title of the song pretty much says it all, it is a considered a simple but nonetheless sweet little love song, a cute (Considering the singer's sweet voice) and heart felt song that seems like a classical choice for any japanese film, TV series or anime, I was glad to have found this song as a back up for my title sequence.
The title of the song pretty much says it all, it is a considered a simple but nonetheless sweet little love song, a cute (Considering the singer's sweet voice) and heart felt song that seems like a classical choice for any japanese film, TV series or anime, I was glad to have found this song as a back up for my title sequence.
I always see a need to have a back up for everything I do, and that includes songs, unfortunately however, finding someone to contact for this song proved even more challenging than my first choice, and so pathetically my first attempt was to try and contact the singer (Who is after all also the producer) for permission through her Facebook page:
"親愛なる氏大塚愛、
私は絶対にあなたの音楽を崇拝し、私が働いて学校のアニメーションにあなたの歌の1"ラブレター"を使用して、あなたの許可を求めることを期待していた、それは決して商業的な理由のために使用され、唯一の私の学校で使用されますプロジェクト（書籍「トットちゃん」に基づいて、短いアニメーションされている）、そしてもちろん、あなたが入金されます。
私の電子メールを読むために時間を割いていただき、ありがとうございますと私はあなたが良い一日を持っている願っています！
敬具
レベッカ·ウォン"
Thankfully I have two more royalty-free songs as back ups, though I don't think they will suit my animation as well as the first two song choices (Oh woe is me). Needless to say this whole aspect of the project was a big pain in the tuckus (I really felt that I was wandering aimlessly about trying to find any of their addresses).
Just to end this off, I found this article much, much later (Because I'm a big dummy dumb dumb like that), so I will just leave it here for future reference. As long as I properly credit these songs and don't use them for commercial purposes I should be alright… right? Eep. Anyway, I will probably be better prepared for this in the future...
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