Wedding Blog
I was thinking of special things we could have as gifts for our guests (either as part of a OOT welcome basket at the hotel, for the wedding party members, or for all the guests). One idea I am toying with is a mix CD.
When Mr. Peppermint and I first started dating, he made me a mix CD. For any holiday or birthday or roadtrip we take, he makes one (complete with one of his drawings!). I was thinking we could either theme the music to be desert-palm-springs-retro or maybe hip-fun-wedding (granted, I’m not sure what songs fit in either category, but we could figure that out later…) Mr. Peppermint and I could design fun cover drawings. It could be a nice, personalized gift (and relatively cost effective).
(picture credit: the first CD cover Mr. Peppermint made me…October 2002)
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Share this post: Gifts For Guests - Mix CD?
*sigh* We wanted to do this, but the people we ran the idea by told us that it would be copyright infringement and probably not quite legal for mass distribution….We almost did it anyway, but we didn’t want to offend anyone. I still love the idea.
My best friend did this and it was a big hit….. and I really don’t think the feds are going to come after you for *giving* the compilation to your wedding guests! It’s not like you are selling them, or even giving them away to a huge mass of people. I guess just be sure that you legally own all of the songs (ie, you didn’t download them illegally), in case something does come up, but I really can’t imagine that. Overall, I think it’s a cute idea!!
I love this idea. We are doing it for the “thank you” card for folks that attend our destination wedding… basically a memory of our week together.
I have also seen his and hers CDs to showcase the bride’s and groom’s tastes if both are really into music.
the drawings are soo cute! and i like that idea a lot - music is a very personal and distinct choice. It will reflect you as a couple very well!
Cute idea. Bad idea—my parents went to a wedding this weekend and they gave out a music video dvd. Kind of weird. Cd though–very cute!
We’re doing this too! That picture is adorable too!
I’ve been tossing this idea around too! 
I love it because of how it can really show the personality of the couple getting married. On the other hand, music is a really personal choice and I know my music choices and those of my fiances probably don’t mesh with those of my/our grandma/pas, numerous aunts & uncles, even parents. Although I think a bunch of cousins/friends would like it, I don’t want us to give our guests something that at least half of them wouldn’t enjoy.
Still, maybe your family is different! And you actually have a sweet story behind mix CDs that you could tell your guests about by slipping a note into the cases or something. My fiance and I met at a euchre tournament at school so we’re considering doing that with packs of cards for favors…we’ll see.
In any case, if you decide not to give mix CDs to everyone, maybe consider giving them to the wedding party as part of a thank you gift or something. As your friends/peers they would probably appreciate something like that!
i love the drawing!
Love the drawing! However, as a publishing professional (although I work in trade book publishing) I have to say that violating copyright is wrong even if it’s on a small scale. Would you hand out DVDs of movies that have meaning to you and your fiance as a favor? it’s the same thing. Someone on another website brought that up recently, and it was interesting to see how some people would hand out music CDs, but not movie DVDs, when it’s the same copyright violation. Some people, of course, don’t care, they seem to think that if it’s something they can do easily in their own home, it’s not wrong. I could scan a $20 bill and print it out in my own home quite easily, but I’d be in big trouble if I tried to pass it at my local convenience store.
We had mix CDs as our favors! Two years after the wedding, people still tell us they listen to it. =) One word of advice though…START EARLY! This is a very time consuming project, even though it is very cost effective.
Is compiling various songs different than copying an entire CD, though? I realize that the individual songs are still copyrighted, but I’m just wondering. When I was in a theatre group in college, we could put on musical revues without having to buy the rights to the individual shows they were from, as long as we were using something like less than 3 songs from any one show. This was completely legal, and I know it’s a completely different situation from the CD mix idea, but just food for thought.
well if you’re getting the songs from itunes, they’ve been paid for so no copyright issues since they let you burn cds. right? anywho, i think this is a fun idea. we made a mix cd of the songs my best friend likes to listen to while getting ready to go out as favors for the bachelorette party and they were a big hit.
it’s already something that’s special to you and the mister so i think that would be perfect as a favor.
Tea, you are mistaken. Once you pay for a song, you’re allowed to make a personal copy for yourself. You are not allowed to burn 100+ copies for your friends and family.
This is copyright infringement, more commonly known as stealing.
Why take the risk, and why would you want the memento from your wedding day to be something illegal?
I love the idea and we almost did it for our wedding. He was going to create a “love cd” to tell the story of us by compiling specific songs with great lyrics. I love the picture!
Brooke–copying an entire album is not any different than copying single songs, except that you’re 15x as much a thief of that particular artist’s music. Or however many songs are on the album.
I just don’t think becoming thieves is the best way to start out your marriage. Yes, it’s harsh, but…it’s accurate.
i have to agree with lydia and pencil — about using copyrighted songs and giving them away– i think its a violation of property rights–
I have seen couples do this and give them away and every time i think– gosh you really don’t know the law– yes its mean — but.. its the truth-
even if you buy it on itunes- its for your personal use- not for you to make 100 copies and distribute it- even if its free and not sold.
Brook- educational institutions have more relaxed rules on copy right infringement because its for the cause of learning.
sorry.
I’m curious to hear Miss Peppermint’s thoughts now, after reading everyone’s points…. it has kind of made me a little sad because I was going to do something like this for my save-the-dates 
Now I’m reconsidering. I wish there were some kind of way to do this legally, in particular for projects like this that are on a small scale, without paying loads of money for the rights to each song!
wow. we were considering doing these but we won’t be after I’ve read all of your thoughts.
If I had been getting married 15 years ago, i never would’ve second guessed giving out something like a mix tape to people.
of course, the internet has changed the way we look at alot of things, including being able to read up in the hive!
Yeah, this was pretty much why I was so bummed! We even had our songlist put together and had to scrap the whole thing. It just wasn’t worth it.
First off, I really want to thank everyone for their feedback!
I think issues of piracy are serious. It’s not so much that I’m afraid of being caught as the ethics of it. And I appreciate the point that it doesn’t matter if it’s five CD’s or 100, it still is wrong.
That being said, I’m REALLY bummed because a mix CD is far more special to me & Mr. Peppermint than most any other favors you see.
I’ll give it more thought and let you guys know what Mr. Peppermint & I come up with…!
educational institutions don’t have more relaxed rules on copyright, they have the same rules everyone else does but whether or not something is educational purpose is taken into account.
In order to know if what you are doing is copyright violation or not you’d have to look at the Fair Use Doctrine and weigh the four factors(not all of which are usually given equal weight, 2 is usally not very useful). This is a difficult balancing act, even for the courts, and I think some of you are making it seem much more black and white than it is. Personally I think it ends up being slightly on the side of fair use but everyone looks at it differently.
“1) The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2) The nature of the copyrighted work;
3) The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4) The effect upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.”
Just playing devil’s advocate here and changing the subject a bit….. but in terms of wedding videos that people put music to, shouldn’t videographers have the rights to all the songs they use? I don’t know if they do, but can’t really imagine that they go to that trouble (or expense) for every video that they compile, either; I’m just wondering what the difference really is between this and creating a mix CD for guests. Discuss
I’ve heard mixed reviews on mix cd’s as favors. Your guests may not have the same music tastes as you, and may not care to listen to “your” song a year after the wedding. Just throwing it out there.
It does look like there’s a lot of support for CDs on here though. Cute drawing, by the way!
Marissa–I do know about Fair Use (as I said, I work in publishing) but it seems pretty clear that the recording industry is highly against illegal distribution of music, considering they have gone after ordinary people for illegal downloading. Since there’s no way for them, as of yet, to police the wedding favor market, it’s not as if they’re going to be suing people for it. That still doesn’t make it right. The recording industry is in a major decline, and it’s not far-fetched to ascribe a good part of it to the easy availability of copying technology. Your little wedding CD favor may not be a big deal by itself, but added to all the thousands of other wedding CDs out there, it’s significant. Especially considering a lot of them probably have many of the same songs on them. 
I don’t really understand your comment Pencils, at least with regards to how it relates to what I said. If it’s Fair Use then it’s not illegal and there’s nothing wrong with it.
Secondly, while I haven’t looked into it recently, last time I checked(admittidly a few years ago) the decline in CD sales wasn’t disproportionate with the decline of the economy as a whole which would imply downloading is not significantly hurting the recording industry.
This is insane. You should do what you want Miss Peppermint.
I gift mix cd’s all the time because music is such a huge part of our lives. We are definitely gifting cd’s at the end of the night. We are incorporating music that will be played at the wedding. Sure it’s our own unique taste in music, but I know that our friends will enjoy this gesture.
If someone or even no one likes the music you selected, big deal! You just bought them, dinner and drinks and a good time… don’t tell me the ‘thank you for coming cd’ is going to spoil their life… seriously unbelievable!
and besides… these super cute DIY cd folders are only $0.50 a piece!!!
oh and one more thing…
to you ‘pirate experts’ up there… The big issue that the record labels actually have is with large groups of people who share music on the internet. Do you know there are several on-line ‘programs’ that allow you to share your entire catalog of cds with other patrons who share their entire catalog… get a few thousand people together (including record insiders), and you never have to buy music again.
so anyways I’m sure that ‘The Man’ is super interested in busting up weddings and/or ruining the lives of newly wed brides and grooms across america…
seriously, unless you plan to sell these cd’s I wouldn’t even think of worrying about this for a second. Rediculous! Rediculous! Rediculous!
I’m sorry, Marissa, what I meant to say is that it’s not Fair Use. In an educational context, it may be different, but in trade publishing, Fair Use only allows the use of a few lines of text. Anything more needs permissions. Song lyrics don’t fall under Fair Use, I guess because they’re short. We would never quote even two lines of a song without getting permission first, or we’d be sued. You may have heard about the term Fair Use, but it’s pretty obvious that it doesn’t apply here, to distributing 100-200 CDs to your friends and family, even if you haven’t charged them. If it means that 100 people now won’t pay for a song, it has harmed the recording industry, and they know that. It’s why they’re trying their best to come up with ways to prevent the copying of songs (although it’s impossible with current technology.)
And to everyone else who commented–the point is not whether you’re going to be chased down by the recording industry. Of course they’re not going to, even if they get their hands on your wedding CD. Just because you won’t get prosecuted doesn’t mean it’s OK. Ethically, it’s still wrong. You may not care, but some people do–possibly including some of your guests. I work in publishing, and my salary is ultimately paid by copyrights, so I take it seriously. Some may think that’s “rediculous.” I think it’s sad not to care about being a thief.
i have to be honest, unless you guys only have guests that share the exact same taste in music, a mix cd is gonna get tossed in the trash. i’m assuming you’re going to have at least three generations, maybe 4 at your wedding? the chances of everyone liking or appreciating your favorite songs will be slim. and then all that hard work to find the right mix, burn the cds multiple times and create a cover and label are wasted. nevermind the whole legality issue. anyway, that’s my 2 cents.
I love this idea for favors (besides edible favors) or our own photobooth pic favors. You gotta do what you gotta do…I made a gatting ready CD and my BM’s and others listening loved it. Imgaine that for all your guests! Good luck!
A neat idea to cater to “all” the generations at your wedding if you are making a cd–we got the “first dance” of so many of our own guests…including grandparents, aunts/uncles, friends, etc and made a cd out of them…so we had songs from many decades! We titled the CD “The First Dance…From Our Guests” and the last song on the CD was our own first dance! Of course when I asked them what their first dance was-I didn’t tell them what it was for!! And if you are doing this-start early, it can become time consuming!
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Miss Peppermint, LA/Palm Springs
Age and Occupation: 23, Actress
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Web Producer
Engagement Date: October 21, 2006
Wedding Date: December 2007
Blogging Since: July 2, 2007
Venue: historic estate overlooking the heart of Palm Springs
About Me: I am a Southern California native who enjoys cooking, writing, travel and all things in the arts. Mr. Peppermint and I met in college and he proposed on our four year anniversary in one of our most special places, Joshua Tree National Park. We're having a destination wedding in Palms Springs that will incorporate tradition as well as reflect our personalities!
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