How do I "get in touch"?

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

If I wanted to make a movie on a book or a play I found, who would I get in contact with?  How do I know who to get in touch with and what should I say to sound as professional as possible?

Same with if I wanted to use an artist's song in my movie.

Who should I contact for songs, books, stories or screenplays?  The publisher(s) or record label(s)?

[cowboykurtis]

yes - in most cases the label and publisher own the licensing rights, not the artist.

obviously an independent label will be much more pleasent to deal with than a huge label/publisher. the latter is almost a waste of time if you have no money.

[Kal]

publisher owns the licenses... label owns the masters... in most cases

but the publisher is the one that licenses the material, for movies, comercials, etc... its usually a synchronization license or a performance license tht you need for that