Poor planning prevents release of film

I like Boing Boing, but sometimes they go a little overboard. Take this story about how bad copyright is because an animated film was made without licensing the music beforehand, and now the excessive cost of licensing the music will prevent it from release. [Link]

Animator Nina Paley's brilliant film, "Sita Sings The Blues," has been wowing the festival circuit but you're probably not going to see it anytime soon. That's because the company that controls the synch rights to the 80+ year old music in the film want so much money for licensing that Paley can't afford to distribute her movie, despite all the critical acclaim.

This is an example of poor planning on her part. Any film that has music needs to license it before using it. This is doubly so for an animated film where the audion is set long before the animation begins. In a live action film, the music can be changed later if needed.

I feel bad for her, but this is not the fault of copyright, it's her fault for not licensing the music first.