JasonReicherAnimation wrote:What is the rule with music used in films already? Will their royalty ever "expire"?
That depends on your contract with the music supplier. They can set an expiration date, or not.
You know, if you live in the US, the copyright laws for music are quite complicated. There are synchronization rights, mechanical rights, master use rights, and performing rights. You can read more about those on this website I found through Google:
The general rule is if you don't have written conformation of what you can do with the music, you can't use it. By law, the moment you (or someone else) create something it is protected by copyright. This is to protect the livelihood of the creator, so (s)he gets compensated for his/her efforts. Mind you, this only applies to physical products, not to ideas.
That's about the extent of my knowledge. Now do your research.
Also note that there is difference between using music for personal use (only for yourself), and for instance putting it onto YouTube. If you put it on YouTube, and it can be traced back to you, you are responsible for clearing any rights and fulfilling any contractual agreements (such as crediting any contributors to your animation).
You do not want to be sued by the RIAA (or the license holder) over music you put into your YouTube animation. Really, you don't. The statuary damages can be thousands of dollars, and even higher if the plaintiff can prove you did it on purpose.
Also remember that the creator of a piece can decide to allow certain rights to be free of charge (under restrictions, such as crediting) if your derivative work meets certain criteria (e.g. non-commercial). This is called Creative Commons. You can read more about this at:
______
PS If you haven't already found out yourself, the
Indaba Music website is where you can find music creators.