unforum

[James Blond]

Copyrights, And You!

[Ehsan]

Disclaimer: IANAL, just read a lot into these issues..

You wouldn't be slapped with a lawsuit because you'd be pretty low on the radar and they have millions of bigger fish to fry, but what you are doing is essentially illegal. There's no way around it even if you do give credit. If it's copyrighted then you cannot reproduce it, and what you are talking about is distribution.

If you're not picky about which artists you need then you'd be safe with artists who distribute their music for free online (I think that's what myspace is for?) and you won't risk anything because the copyright owner gave their consent for distribution online. (With other major artists the right is owned by the record labels).

Also about your idea for a game, see if you can team up with some other PMs instead of working on it on your own. That'll turn a great idea into amazing ideas.

[Ofiuco]

I once had a friend who for a school project to be posted online wanted to use a particular song by an artist called Assemblage 23, aka Tom Shears. Worried about copyright, she wrote a letter to Mssr. Shears asking his permission to use his song in her project. He was glad to grant it.

Is she therefore legally in the clear, meaning you could write smaller bands letters and ask? (Obviously Tom Shears has lots of free time to answer fan mail, but other artists, probably not so much.)

[James Blond]

[Phaedra]

I'd like to second what was said above. I know a lot of people who've written and asked for permission to use the music of less well-known artists, and gotten very positive responses. Often the artists are appreciative that you bothered to get permission and happy for the exposure.

That said, with better-known artists, the rights to whose music are often controlled by major labels, I think you're more likely to end up dealing with the company's legal department than you are to deal with the artists directly. I worked the rights and permissions department of a press, not in music, but standard practice when we were contacted about using an excerpt from one of our books was to charge a fee.

[imbri]

There are also a growing number of independent artists that release their music under a creative commons license which will allow you to use their music under certain circumstances. Also, quite a few artists will allow sharing of their live performances. Some have pretty strong stipulations but some do not and most will not allow public sharing of shows that will be released commercially. Sites such as etree.com contain a list of artists that you could probably sort through, checking their official sites for specific policies.

[HaxanMike]

I strongly recommend you seek out artists releasing music under creative commons licenses or contact the artists/labels for permission.

Most indie labels will give you permission for no money -- on AotH I selected a number of songs that labels and bands already had posted on their websites and almost all of them said yes without taking any fee.

Back in the pre-Blair Witch days, we made a film that had REM, They Might Be Giants, and other well-known acts on the soundtrack, none of whom charged a dime, because we were totally independent.

It's one of the true benefits of independent works that artists will often give you permission to use something for free that they would charge a big company thousands of dollars to use.

It's a little extra time and work, but it's well worth the effort.

[Nightmare Tony]

It also helps if you know the bands personally that you ask to license the music from

But yup, I do think creative commons is the way to go for modern music, and look around for public domain and archival under public domain.

Artsists tend to lose control of their work once the bigger company gets in the picture. One group I talked to had a song in a movie and to gain permission was fairly impossible as the movie rights were assigned to Universal who did not grant it.

When in doubt, compose your own

hey Mike, dont forget to listen to the CDs I sent ya! Gotta do the Wizard of Oz thing and sync it up where it belongs....(havent tried it yet, me wants to)...