Copyrighted music 😖

Hey gang,

So I made a short film this summer I’m really proud of. Unfortunately for me a lot of my ideas come while listening to music and I’ve included 4 clips of copyrighted songs in the short. A friend of mine made something to replace the first song but the remaining 3 remain « irreplaceable » in my head. I’ve been though countless royalty-free tracks but it just doesn’t fit. A 1 year film festival license for the songs would set me back £5000 which I absolutely don’t have. I’ve been encouraged to submit the film to festivals but I imagine it’s a no-go without replacing the music…? Is it worth even trying? Should I just keep this as a memory and move onto my next film?

Thank you so much for reading