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arashiPooh-Bah
2,364 posts
Location: austin,tx


Posted:
Ummmm... does anybody know the laws pertaining to use of someone else's music for a streamed video of a dance performance? I'm wanting to put a routine or two up on our site but I don't know if I'm allowed to use music without permission. Since our website could be seen as "commercial use" I have concerns. Any links to previous threads or advice would be greatly appreciated. weavesmiley

-Such a price the gods exact for song: to become what we sing
-Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.
-When the center of the storm does not move, you are in its path.


musashiistarring Skippy the green llama
1,148 posts
Location: Seattle, WA


Posted:
I think that the video is being used for commercial advertising purposes poses the problem. I'm pretty sure it would fall under the same restrictions as selling the video. You could always setup a membership for the musicians union and pay the fees yourself, or why not contact an artist directly? I know a someone who writes really really good psytrance if you need that kind of music, I can check with him.

First intention, then enlightenment..
Ars Pyronomica

" Life is programmed. Whether death is programmed or not is yet to be determined."


arashiPooh-Bah
2,364 posts
Location: austin,tx


Posted:
Well, here's the question, if all i'm doing is showing my dancing (for free), not selling the video, does it still qualify as commercial?

The latest song i (just) choreographed to is a D&B/indian fusion shpongled remix. know anybody that does that? frown cause that's what i'm looking for.
i guess to do a vid i'll have to redo it on a song we have rights to... maybe our fan dance song... or wait until we get more custom written songs ready frown but that could be spring. {Which is when our next tour will happen by the way... however i'm hoping to make it out your way by decemberish for some more solo adventure...}

-Such a price the gods exact for song: to become what we sing
-Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.
-When the center of the storm does not move, you are in its path.


DeepSoulSheepGOLD Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,617 posts
Location: Berlin, Ireland


Posted:
A few friends run this sight, which is the biggest free electronic music resourse in Ireland.

You'll find Warren's email addy on the site, don't want to post here. If you mail him, he can advise and send you demo cds. There's loads to download from the site but I'd get in touch cause, he's usually more than happy to help and has provided music for promotional videos before. All the music is produced by them so they own the rights.

There is defo DnB up there as for the, indian fusion shpongled bit, confused. They may put something together for you if nothing fits. I'm speculating though cause I'm out of touch and am not the person who'd know anywho.

Hope that helps...
smile

I live in a world of infinite possibilities.


LeifGOLD Member
member
56 posts
Location: College Station, Texas, USA


Posted:
I am fairly confident that this is a question that many people have at some point or another. For this reason I decided to make a more thorough article that would help people obtain a better sense of security (or risk) when it comes to the use of songs in their videos. It has been a good while since I have dealt with some trademark and copyright laws, so I decided to review and reference one of my old text books, “Copyright and Ethics by Robert French – Copyright 1999 Sentinel”

The first thing to recall is that this is an international community and that not all countries recognize the rights and regulations of international copyright. (Arashi, you’re here in the USA so this obviously does not apply to you.) Also be aware that there are many songs that have a status of “public domain” which can be used and altered as needed without need for approval or licensing.

The primary exception to the use of copyrighted music, without granted approval or compulsory licensing, is what is called "fair use". Fair use is a limited right to use copyrighted material without approval/notification or licensing. Valid purposes for fair use are primarily things such as: criticism, commenting, news reporting, parodies, teaching, scholarship or research. You can review more thoroughly the Fair Use Doctrine - [17 USC 107 of the Copyright Act] for a more thorough explanation of how fair use is defined.

Many people believe that if there is no money being made or charged that it applies as fair use. This however is only a factor in determining fair use and does not excuse copyright infringement per se. There are actually four primary factors in determining fair use. They are:

I). The purpose or character of the use. I have listed above acceptable purposes for use. Also keep in mind that the use must be for a non-profit, non-commercial use. This is where it gets tricky many times with public postings to the internet, as it is actually considered a medium of advertisement. It is dependent on the format/orientation of your site what may be considered commercial use. If your sites’ simple purpose is to show off yourself or your performance groups abilities, than this could be considered a promotional medium for your services (performing).

If your site has a large base in public education/exposure then this could be an exceptional term of use. At our site, TamingFire.Com, although we provide information about the team, and sell our flags and apparel, its primary orientation is in public exposure and education. As this is the foundation of the site our videos, although they may generate promotion, are provided as educational/reference materials and provide cause to fair use. You must be very careful as judgment on orientation is quite scrupulous. A slight amount of educational information does not justify orientation; it must be strong and predominant through out the entire site.

You can always apply a reduction of risk by placing a general disclaimer for your videos as being provided strictly as reference material for educational purposes only. This must be provided in a clear and legible manner in an area that is in view, such as above your video listings or in the beginning of the videos themselves. Also I think there may be exceptions to “documentary footages” for the use of copyrighted materials, but this would need to be looked into and not taken as an assurance.

II). The nature of the copyrighted works you are intending to use. This section applies less in the determining of cause for fair use as it applies to music, but is still one of the determinate factors of fair use and should probably be listed. If the material is of an instructional orientation it is more than likely that rights to fair use would be found. However, if the orientation is more so for entertainment purposes (as music or TV shows are) then fair use will be more narrowly construed.

III). The amount and substantiality of use. Using less of a copyrighted work will give greater leeway when weighing the factors of fair use. A good example would be; using a few seconds of news footage, versus replaying an entire news briefing. Once again applying this factor to the use of music can be difficult.

IV). The effect of use on potential market. Probably the most important factor, especially for release of video, in determining rights to fair use. This is a pretty straight-forward concept. If you gain to increase your potential market, then this factor is definitely a “no” to cause for fair use. If not it’s pretty much a “yes”.

There is not really a formula of applicable values for these particular factors (or at least that I am aware of). It is usually at the discretion of the authority evaluating the particular case. Just keep in mind that even though you may not be in infringement of copyright that you may still have to incur the expense of legal fees if a lawsuit is filed and/or case mediation invoked.

There may be one other exception besides fair use that may be a solution for the use of copyrighted media in videos. This would be a compulsory license (license for use) available through the Performing Rights Society, or perhaps other sources. Compulsory licenses allow for use of music upon the payment of a license fee. In fact you should probably obtain one of these if you are going to publicly perform for monies to copyrighted songs. These are the same licenses required to sing a copyrighted song publicly.

If none of these exceptions apply then your final solution is to obtain the rights of the copyright owner. Always assure you have written permission for use regardless if you feel it is needed or not. Copyright infringement can carry great penalties which are not worth avoiding. Obviously if you know the person and they are willing then obtaining a release for use is not too difficult. When getting a release from someone you don’t know, especially famous or “signed” musicians it is important to know who holds the rights to the copyright. Many record labels hold the copyrights to songs performed by their “signed” musicians. Permissions from the incorrect person do not qualify as acceptable, and it is considered to be your obligation to be aware of whom the correct copyright holder is. You can obtain copyright registration searches from the Copyright Office for a fee of $20 an hour. Or for quicker results you can use a private agency such as B2 Right & Permission (212)-580-0115.

Finally and most important of all, assure that you provide credit to the source of the copyrighted materials you are using. There are different ways of doing this, such as in the video listing, or in the credits of the video itself. Lack of credit can be means to copyright infringement regardless if you have permission, rights to fair use, or a compulsory license.

What else can I say? TamingFire.Com


LeifGOLD Member
member
56 posts
Location: College Station, Texas, USA


Posted:
Written by: arashi


The latest song i (just) choreographed to is a D&B/indian fusion shpongled remix. know anybody that does that? frown cause that's what i'm looking for.




Arashi,
Maybe I'm a little out on the lingo, but off hand I can't seem to think of what "D&B" is or what it might stand for. However, I was going to note that Matt and I have a freind, Dev Bhattacharya, whose father is renouned as one of the best in the world at a particular instrument similar to the sitar (but I can't think of what it is at the moment). He has a large network of amazing indian musicians, and he could probably be a great resource for you to get ahold of some of some indian music along with permissions for use (possibly with rights to edit and/or alter). PM / Email me or Matt if you have an interest in this.
Leif

What else can I say? TamingFire.Com


DurbsBRONZE Member
Classically British
5,689 posts
Location: Epsom, Surrey, England


Posted:
Drum and Bass...

I only know the laws for the UK...
I wrote a huge post on it somwhere - try searching for PRS

Burner of Toast
Spinner of poi
Slacker of enormous magnitude


colemanSILVER Member
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom


Posted:
boo ya.
[Old link].

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood


RevBRONZE Member
Bastard Newbie Messiah
1,269 posts
Location: Apparently lost in my ego, USA


Posted:
Written by: arashi


I'm wanting to put a routine or two up on our site




I hate to be a offtopic monkey.. but word mate... word.. bounce clap bounce2

More useless information courtesy of Rev...
Confusing the masses, one post at a time...
"Obviously, you're not a golfer.."- The Dude
"Buy the ticket... Take the ride..." -Raoul Duke
"FEMA has never done catastrophe planning..."-Michael Brown


bluecatgeek, level 1
5,300 posts
Location: everywhere


Posted:
we use any old music if its for a thrown together vid like black and blue, rubbish and the like; where it's obviously not a commercial video.
for our show stuff, which could directly (and has)lead to us getting bookings we use commisioned tunes and our own things.
this help? hope so.

can't wait
R

Holistic Spinner (I hope)


NYCNYC
9,232 posts
Location: NYC, NY, USA


Posted:
How much did you have to pay for the royalties on that James Bond song? wink

Well, shall we go?
Yes, let's go.
[They do not move.]


arashiPooh-Bah
2,364 posts
Location: austin,tx


Posted:
wow thanks for the help everyone!

-Such a price the gods exact for song: to become what we sing
-Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.
-When the center of the storm does not move, you are in its path.


Astarmember
1,591 posts
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada.


Posted:
another thing that should be noted is the bush administration is spouting rhetoric about a war on missuse of intellectual property, although no action has been taken yet, it's likely the laws will be changed and more funding will be allocated into takeing offenders to court.

DeepSoulSheepGOLD Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,617 posts
Location: Berlin, Ireland


Posted:
You could just get your web site hosted in a country that hasn't signed the international treaties like India...

I live in a world of infinite possibilities.



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