iMovie and copyrighted music

Songs in your Apple Music subscription cannot be copied or moved. This is because it has to be possible for Apple to disable them if you cancel your subcscription.

Older songs purchased from the iTunes library (as opposed to the Apple Music one) are yours for life, not dependent upon a subscription, but have DRM and so cannot be played outside an authroised iTunes.

More recent songs purchased from iTunes don't have this, so it's technically possible to copy them: but all music in iTunes is copyright.

Hi,

First of all, Apple Music songs cannot be used in iMovie because it is a subscription that must be maintained. You would need to use iTunes songs.

Secondly, all Apple Music purchased songs are DRM protected and for that reason as well, they cannot be used in iMovie. As opposed to Apple Music songs, iTunes songs purchased from iTunes before 2009 are DRM protected, but iTunes songs purchased after 2009 are DRM free. These iTunes DRM free songs will remain DRM free in your iTunes library and can be used in iMovie. However, the same DRM free iTunes songs will also show in your Apple Music library where they will be DRM protected. there. So, whatever songs you use in iMovie must be downloaded from your iTunes library. You can't involve Apple Music in the transfer.

When you open your iTunes library you can see which songs are Protected and thus not usable in iMovie. After opening your iTunes library, click on View/Show View Options. A dialogue box will open.

Under the "File" item, put a check in the box marked "Kind".

In your iTunes library there will now be a column labeled "Kind" that will show which songs are Protected and which songs are Purchase and unprotected.

If you want to use a protected song the easiest way would be to simply repurchase it for a dollar or so. If you have lots of protected songs that you want to make DRM free iTunes has a Match program that you can subscribe to for $25 that will let you download from the cloud DRM free "Matches" of your DRM protected songs, provided that iTunes still sells the song.

-- Rich

All Apple Music files have DRM protection. This prevents them from being re-coded which is what happens when you make an iMovie.

You can buy the music from the iTunes Store instead of using Apple Music files. However, there's still the legal problem of doing this if you are sharing the product between parents. Even purchased files are for your personal use, not sharing as part of a product. There is some leeway for educational use but now you're talking legal interpretations and that gets to be really messy here on the forums since you are likely to encounter a bunch of armchair lawyers and nobody who is a real copyright lawyer.