Music Rights
Community Forums/General Help/Music Rights
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| Hi, I am working on an RPG and am adding music/ambience to the game. Rather than compose and record it myself, I figured I'd save some time and use pre-made media. I found music I really like, but its from a game called Lords of Magic. It was developed by Sierra in 1998. From what I understand, Sierra went under and is now owned by Activision. I just wanted to send an e-mail asking for permission to use it, but now that I think of it, is it really worth the hassle? Chances are they (whoever they is) won't even respond. Should I even bother, since my game will be free and for a small audience? Thanks, |
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| Well, technically they own the copyright, and should they choose to do so, can come down on you like a ton of bricks. You'll 'probably' be OK, but it sure would suck if your program becomes popular, shows up on their radar, and they sue you for damages. (which can be a very significant amount of money, if some of the recent P2P lawsuits are anything to go by) Just because you don't charge anything for your game doesn't mean you're not liable for damages if they decide to make a stink about it. ...Would you really want to take that chance? You may want to look around for some of the Creative Commons licensed music -- there's quite a bit of that floating around, and those typically do allow you to use it for free (especially since your program is non-commercial as well) |
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| Looks like I might have to... tried to go to Activision's contact page and the only people I can e-mail is customer service, which is not what I want... I guess I could send them a letter... I'm just bummed because I have it on my computer ready to go and its perfect for what I need. But you're right, better safe than sorry. I probably will be OK but how much would it suck if people actually liked it and my reward was to get sued? Maybe for just the demo as placeholder music... |
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| Oops, double post. |
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| Maybe for just the demo as placeholder music... Except If you release that to anyone you could still run into the same problem -- it would still be unauthorized distribution, after all. |
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| If by demo you mean internal Beta then you're ok because your beta testers should be under an NDA... but if you go public in any way, xlsior is quite correct that you are redistributing intellectual property without authorization. |
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| I think I'll just write my own taking inspiration from LOM. As long as I can get access to a Mac that is. |
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| try not to make it too soundalike, that can still land you in hot water. earlier i heard a song with a lyrical tempo to george michales faith and it took me a while to wonder why i knew the song even though i hadnt heard it before. once i twigged it was the faith tempo it made sense. legally they could be in trouble, if i can think it sounds like faith then any judge could too if it came to court. having said that they could be paying some form of royalties iir kylie's confide in me strings were similar or sampled from opus 3's its a fine day and took it to court they could have been independantly written and just sounded the same but opus' song was out earlier mind you the strings from the verves bittersweet symphony were a blatant unlicenced sample of a stones song edit: and this as a preemptive on the whole music spiral we normally get around here http://uk.news.launch.yahoo.com/dyna/article.html?a=/22082009/364/macdonald-earned-nothing-number-album.html&e=l_news_dm MacDonald earned nothing from number one album (Saturday August 22, 2009 12:26 AM) The thrill of topping the album charts has waned for Scottish singer Amy Macdonald, because she hasn't made a penny from her number one record. The newcomer hit the top spot last year with her debut release This is the life. But MacDonald insists she's yet to enjoy the trappings of fame, because all of the money she earned from the album and her subsequent tour has been swallowed up by costs. She writes on her Twitter.com page, "I have yet to make one penny from album sales. People don't realise how much it costs to make and release an album. You don't have a proper idea about gigs. The money is all swallowed up by promoters and agents. I haven't made money from gigs". |
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| Yeah happened to George Harrison with "My Sweet Lord" paid half a million in damages to the Chiffon's. |
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